Sen. Ted Stevens spent the end of 2006 deeply concerned about an FBI investigation into an extensive remodeling project of his Alaska home, according to taped phone calls played at his criminal trial Monday.

In those conversations with Bill Allen, a longtime friend and influential oil tycoon, the Alaska Republican said he had done nothing wrong but was concerned that home renovations arranged by Allen created the appearance of impropriety.

Stevens said he was aware that the FBI had begun questioning people familiar with the renovations at his Girdwood, Alaska home, and told Allen, “Screw it,” saying he expected to be exonerated.

The senator also told Allen, his friend of some 25 years, that he didn’t want to create the appearance that the two men were conspiring or obstructing justice, saying they should “sweat out this grand jury” investigation.

Stevens, 84, has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of failing to report an estimated $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from Allen, the former head of the now-defunct oil services firm Veco Corp., and other longtime associates. Stevens says he paid every bill he was given, including $160,000 in home renovations.

He disputes that left unpaid was an estimated $188,000 tab for a range of renovations.

Allen, 71, the government’s star witness, has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska state legislators, but testified that he did not intend to bribe Stevens. Stevens and Allen, both wearing court-supplied hearing aids, barely made eye contact.

Allen, who often struggles to find the right words because of brain damage he suffered seven years ago, spent much of Monday being grilled by defense attorneys during a somewhat contentious cross-examination.

Brendan Sullivan, Stevens’s lawyer, tried to portray Allen as an overzealous contractor who did not bill Stevens because he was eager to please his longtime friend. Sullivan also questioned Allen’s motivations for turning on Stevens, suggesting that failing to cooperate with the FBI could have resulted in criminal action taken against others at Veco or his children being implicated in the scandal.

“You’re not trying to get me mad, are you?” Allen said gruffly at one point.

The attorney pointed to instances in which Allen did not bill Stevens even after the senator asked for an invoice. For instance, in 2006, Allen paid to repair Stevens’s boiler, but Allen acknowledged that Stevens called his secretary and asked for $1,200 labor bill. Allen also said he refused to bill Stevens over a reworked roof because of errors in the construction process.

Under cross-examination, Allen suggested that the estimated unpaid costs were greatly exaggerated, and testified that two men who billed Veco for extensive work were alcoholics.

“Isn’t it a fact that you believed that those of the costs on Ted Stevens’s house were excessive?” Sullivan asked.

“Yes, it was too much money,” Allen said.

Under questioning, Allen also testified that Stevens would have paid his bills if he prepared an invoice for him.

“If it had been an invoice that was fair, I think Ted would have paid it,” he told Sullivan.

Allen testified previously that he was told that Stevens was “just covering his ass” in asking for bills. Under cross-examination, Allen struggled to say when he first notified the government about that assertion.

Allen is expected to conclude his testimony Tuesday, and the government could rest its case by the end of the day.