CLEVELAND — As prosecutors prepare to rest their case this week in the corruption trial of U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., the congressman has offered few hints about his defense.

        Mr. Traficant, although not a lawyer, is representing himself on charges he received gifts and free labor from businessmen for his political help, and took cash kickbacks and free labor from staff members.

        The trial will resume today with Mr. Traficant completing a cross examination.

        Prosecutors have said they have only a few witnesses left, including J.J. Cafaro, a developer who is expected to testify that he gave Mr. Lange money to repair and buy Mr. Traficant's dilapidated houseboat while Mr. Traficant was pressuring federal regulators to buy products from Mr. Cafaro's company.

        Mr. Cafaro may take the stand as early as Monday afternoon, and the prosecution may rest its case by Tuesday.

        That leaves the ball in Mr. Traficant's court.

        The biggest question is whether Mr. Traficant will testify himself.

        “I don't know yet,” Mr. Traficant said Friday.

        On Friday, U.S. District Judge Lesley Wells read Mr. Traficant the rules for him to take the stand and question himself, if he decides to do so.

        “For your direct examination of yourself, you will ask yourself a question,” Judge Wells said. Mr. Traficant must then give the prosecution an opportunity to object, and the judge the opportunity to rule on the objection before he may give the answer.

        “When you answer your question, you first say, "answer,' then you give your answer,” Judge Wells said.

        Mr. Traficant objected to Judge Wells reading him these rules.

        “You are not to advise me of my defense, nor, in fact, to inform me of the law,” Mr. Traficant said.

        The congressman wants to play for the judge several audiotapes that he has recorded that he says prove the government bullied witnesses into testifying against him;he doubts he will be able to play them in open court.

        Traficant has not provided prosecutors with a list of witnesses he plans to call. The congressman said Friday he is concerned that once the government knows who his witnesses are, federal agents “will run a complete profile on an individual and be prepared to try and destroy them on cross examination.”

        Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Morford complained to Judge Wells last week that Mr. Traficant has not provided prosecutors with documents he is gathering in preparation for his defense. Judge Wells told the congressman “you've got to make copies for them.”

        Mr. Traficant filed an affidavit Friday by a private investigator he hired to serve subpoenas. The investigator alleges he has been followed and photographed by FBI agents.

        Mr. Traficant has issued several subpoenas, but they shed little light on his defense.

        He has subpoenaed records from local banks for the accounts of former staff member Allen Sinclair, his wife Kimberly Sinclair and K.A.S. Enterprises, the real estate company she owns.

        Allen Sinclair testified that while he was a member of Traficant's congressional staff, he gave Traficant $2,500 in cash from each of his congressional paychecks.

        Sinclair also testified that he owned the building that housed Traficant's congressional office, and that he and his wife created K.A.S. Enterprises to avoid House ethics rules that would have prevented Traficant from renting office space from one of his own staff members.

        Then there is the matter of the place mat.

        Anthony Bucci, a former paving contractor, has testified that his company provided thousands of dollars worth of free labor at Traficant's horse farm. In exchange, Traficant intervened with federal and state regulators to allow Bucci to continue in the paving business after he was convicted of fraud, Bucci testified.

        Prosecutors produced a fragment of a paper delicatessen place mat with a list of chores to be done at the farm. Bucci said Traficant had given him the handwritten list, and that he had carried it in his wallet for years.

        Traficant has demanded that the federal government turn over the place mat for “forensic testing.” Prosecutors agreed, but Traficant has not yet arranged for the test.

        The congressman also asked the government to pass along to Bucci — who refused to provide his home address — a subpoena for any wallets in which he carried the place mat.

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