7 key quotes in the Mike Duffy-Nigel Wright emails

They hit the trial with a thud: two stacks ofemailsone filed by the Crown on Wednesday and another by the defence onThursday revealing what key players were writingas Mike Duffy's Senateexpense saga unfolded.

Not everything in the stacks was new: some of it repeated messages quoted inRCMPlead investigator GregHorton's court filings theInformation to Obtain Production Orders from November 2013. Some of the juicy bits had already been sampledheavily in both the media and question period. (Ex-PMO chief of staffNigelWright's"Good to go," anyone?)

• Read theemailsfiled by defence on Thursday
• Read theemailsfiled by Crown on Wednesday
• Wright accused of being part of 'deliberately deceptive scenario'

But some werenew. And othersare worth revisiting with fresh insightas the Duffy trial unfolds.

Here's a look a few quotes from the 2013 emails.

"But let this small group be under no illusion. I think that this is going to end badly."

- NigelWrightemailto four senior PMO staff, Feb. 6,2013 (Index#0300013 in Crownemails, #21 in defenceemails)

The context:Since Dec. 2012,media outlets hadbeenraisingquestions about Senator Mike Duffy's residency claims: Was he qualified to sit in the Senate representing P.E.I.? Were his expense claims proper, based on where he was actually living? The Prime Minister's Office, of which Nigel Wright was in charge, was asked to vet a written statement Duffy intended to release to the media in response. Wright agreed to Duffy's response, with a warning that now seems ironic given what happened in the weeks that followed.

"I didn't say that, and if you continue to misquote me, then we will be speaking only through lawyers going forward."

- NigelWrightemailto Mike Duffy, Feb. 20, 2013, senior PMO staffer Chris Woodcock also copied (Index #03000090 in Crownemails, #142 in defenceemails)

The context:Duffy had just retained the services of lawyer Janice Payne and was asking for information he could forward to her, including what he said was Wright'sanalysis that he was "in violation of the housing allowance policy." Wright denied having drawn such a conclusion, and it's not the only time misunderstanding or miscommunication complicated negotiations between Duffy and PMO in this saga.

"Had I known we were going down this road I would haveshut it down long before this memo... This issue is about $'s, not this."

- Ray Novak, Stephen Harper's then senior aide and now his chief of staff, quoting what the prime minister wrote as instructions on a Feb. 18 memoabout the issue of Senate residency, Feb.19, 2013. (Index #127 in defenceemails)

The context:Senior staff hadpresented their plan for dealing with the emerging Senate residency issue. Stephen Harper's memo isn't included in theemails, but the discussion around it suggestsHarper hada strong opinion against allowing a Senate committee to explore the issue of who is eligible to sit in the Senate in light of the expenses controversy. Harperwanted the audit to be about expenses rules, not residency requirements, and the staff followed the boss's direction when it drafted its "Scenario for Repayment" (Index# 0300093 in Crownemails, #146 in defenceemails).

"I am at wits end with the drama and agendas at play in the chamber of sober second thought."

- Chris Woodcock, writingNigelWright and fellow senior staffer Patrick Rogers, Feb.27, 2013 (Index #03000199 in Crownemails)

The context: The Senate subcommittee dealing with the expenses audithad just met, and the Senate's clerk and a staffer were blocking the PMO'sdesire to issue a report and wrap up the matter quickly. The two administrators were threatening legal action, and Conservative senators felt someone might leak the draft report before it was finalized. From the exchanges, it appearsformer Harper staffer and Senate committee member Carolyn Stewart Olsen was supposed to be ensuring the committee acted in accordance to the PMO's directives, something described as a "fulfillment of her commitment" to her former PMO colleagues (Index #03000383 in Crownemails).

"I was pretty frank with Mike this morning about attacking the very people who are trying to help him. Unfortunately he and Vern traded expletives shortly thereafter. (Mike was in a state of over waking up to a lawn-sign in Kanata calling on him to resign, and a likely resolution in the P.E.I. [legislature] asking that he be fired)"

- Ray Novak, writing Patrick Rogers, special adviser and counsel Benjamin Perrin,NigelWright andChris Woodcock, March 6, 2013, (Index #318 in defenceemails)

The context:Novak appears in several places in the defenceemailsexchanging more casualnotes with or about Duffy. He appears to have an open communications channel withthe senator, separate from the others, with Duffy sometimes writing him with frank admissions or pleas (see also defenceemails#198 or #230).

• Key Conservative campaign players in the loop on Duffy plan in 2013
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"I don't know whether either of you has thoughts, but I think that this is perfectly fine (and I resist making minor suggestions since I would prefer to be able to answer, if necessary, that PMO did not write it)."

- NigelWright,emailto PMO lawyer Benjamin Perrin and Harper aide Ray Novak, March 23, 2013 (Index #03000289 in Crownemails, #404 in defenceemails)

The context:Theemailsimmediately before this show Wright making a banking transfer to prepare to pay for Duffy's $90,000 disputed expenses. Novak, now Harper's chief of staff, is a recipient on one (#400)specifically about Wrightsending hischeque.Duffy's lawyer, Janice Payne, then sent PMO a draft letter for approval a letterthat wouldaccompany Duffy's repayment to the Senate. SheaskedPerrin and Wright to comment before Duffy sent it, and this was Wright's reaction.

"Do I need to call Marjory [LeBreton]? They think they are hurting Duffy, but they will end up hurting the prime minister."

- NigelWrightemailto senior staff Patrick Rogers and Chris Woodcock, May 8, 2013 (Index #513 in defenceemails)

The context:Emails show growing frustration with the Senate subcommittee's inability to wrap things up quickly as the PMO wanted. Then-Senate leader Marjory LeBreton's office was supposed to be managing it, but a staffer in her office was raising troublesome questions. "This is epic. Montgomery is the problem," Rogers writes of a difficultmeeting in LeBreton's office with her assistant Chris Montgomery severalemailslater in the chain. Woodcock a few minutes later wrote to Wright that "Patrick made it happen," and Wright responded,"Nice work guys. Thank youvery much."