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Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff testified Friday that he thought it was “OK” to take money from a taxpayer-supported Conservative party war chest to repay Sen. Mike Duffy’s “wrong and inappropriate” expenses — then deceive Canadians about the deal.

“I didn’t think it was wrong,” Nigel Wright testified. “It was meant to achieve an objective – to get the money repaid.”

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During an intense cross-examination during which he sometimes appeared shaken, Wright told Duffy’s lawyer, Donald Bayne, that there was pressure from Harper to “shut this down, quickly” – referring to the continued media stories about the Senate spending scandal.

“That was also an objective,” he admitted.

With Wright, 52, on the witness stand for the third day, it was clear the Duffy affair is anything but “shut down.” On the federal campaign trail, Harper has had to field questions several times this week about who in his office – a widening cast, it turns out – knew about the scheme to secretly repay Duffy’s questionable expenses, after his claims first came to light in late 2012 and early 2013.