Will Trudeau Resign After Former AG’s Explosive Testimony?
During a day where three concurrent Congressional hearings dominated the news cycle in the US, the testimony of Canada’s former Attorney General seemed to slip under the radar. But unlike Michael Cohen’s star turn in front of the House Oversight Committee, what former AG Jody Wilson-Raybould shared with lawmakers and the Canadian public actually might cause one head of state’s carefully constructed house of cards to come crashing down - just as campaign season is ramping up.
With roughly eight months left until an election where Canadians will decide whether to stick with - or reject - the progressive agenda of PM Justin Trudeau, a widening corruption scandal is threatening to take down the prime minister’s entire government. Two weeks ago, journalists at the Globe and Mail blew the lid off a scandal involving Trudeau and his closest aides, where the prime minister appeared to pressure Wilson-Raybould, then the attorney general, into offering a DPA to a Quebec-based engineering firm - then fired her when she refused to obey his demands. And after weeks of radio silence, she shared her side of the story during a widely watched (in Canada) Congressional hearing Wednesday afternoon.
Answering questions posed by a conservative MP, Wilson-Raybould said she faced intense political pressure and veiled threats from at least 11 people involved in the government - either the PMO or the Privy Council Office - related to the SNC-Lavalin affair. She also said she was warned directly by Trudeau about the negative consequences should the company face prosecution, according to CBC. One close aide to Trudeau has already resigned over the scandal.
Wilson-Raybould listed the people she had warned about “the inappropriate nature of these conversations” after they “hounded” her about the affair, including Trudeau, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick and the (now-fired) senior senior aide to the prime minister, Gerald Butts.
“For a period of four months from September to December 2018, I experience a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the attorney general of Canada in an inappropriate effort to secure a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with SNC-Lavalin.”
“Within these conversations there were express statements regarding the necessity of interfering in the SNC-Lavalin matter, the potential of consequences, and veiled threats if a DPA was not made available to SNC-Lavalin,” she said.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-27/will-trudeau-resign-after-former-ags-explosive-testimony
YOW! Good find!!
After Trump dissed Trudeau at the G-7 meeting last June, I told my Canadian parents there was no way Trudeau would survive the next Canadian election. They laughed, saying Trump was the one who wouldn't be around.