More than 100 calls of Stevens' taped

WASHINGTON — FBI agents taped more than 100 phone conversations involving Sen. Ted Stevens as part of their public-corruption investigation, Stevens' attorneys said Tuesday.

The FBI's recorded conversations have been the highlight of corruption trials in Alaska, but the size of its collection against Stevens had been unclear. The conversations between oil contractors and Alaska politicians helped the Justice Department send three state politicians to prison.

The calls could be played in court this month when the Senate's longest-serving Republican stands trial on charges of lying about hundreds of thousands of dollars in home renovations and other gifts he received from an oil contractor.

His attorneys began laying the groundwork for an argument that the calls should not be admitted into evidence because Stevens was not named as a wiretapping target.