Colin Powell "You could rely" on Stevens' word.

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WASHINGTON — Colin Powell, the retired Army general and former secretary of state, characterized Sen. Ted Stevens in court Friday as a "trusted individual" and a man with a "sterling" reputation.

"He was someone whose word you could rely on," said Powell, who self-deprecatingly described himself as the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who retired and then "dabbled a bit in diplomacy."

Stevens, on trial charged with lying about gifts on financial disclosure forms, has the right during the defense portion of the trial to ask character witnesses to speak on behalf of his "truthfulness and veracity." The first such character witness, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, spoke Thursday. Three others are set to testify on Stevens' behalf, but the highest-profile witness, by far, will be Powell.

The former secretary of state said he had known Stevens for 25 years, mostly in the senator's role as the top defense appropriator on the Senate Appropriations Committee. In Stevens, "I had a guy who would tell me when I was off base, he would tell me when I had no clothes on, figuratively, that is, and would tell me when I was right and go for it," Powell said. "He's a guy who, as we said in the infantry, we would take on a long patrol."

Powell said he had never been to Girdwood, Alaska, and has no independent knowledge of the charges Stevens faces. When asked outside of the courtroom after his testimony whether Stevens asked him personally to testify to his character, Powell said he couldn't recall if it was the senator or one of his lawyers. But he didn't think twice about testifying, Powell said.

Stevens, 84, faces charges of failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts between 1999 and 2006. Most of that total is related to a major renovation project that doubled the size of Stevens' home in Girdwood, with much of the work allegedly done for free by an oil-field service company run by Stevens' friend Bill Allen.