Friday, August 28, 2015

I Knew the Harper PMO Reminded Me of Something.

Yes, that's it! Something way back from my childhood. Yes.



Word has it that Harper chief of staff, Ray Novak, will be doing his best Sgt. Schultz impression when he gets grilled under oath in November.

Novak told CTV's Bob Fife, “Bob, I did not know that Mr. Wright was going to cut that cheque. Beyond that, I will speak at the appropriate time. Now is not the appropriate time.”

Fife then asked Novak if he had read the email in which Wright informed him that he was sending the $90,000 cheque.

“No I did not see that email, Bob,” Novak replied. “I first saw that email when it was disclosed much, much later.”


So, Sugar Ray, is going to say that Special Counsel Ben Perrin's crystal clear testimony that he watched Novak's face when Wright told them he was cutting the cheque to Duffy was a fabrication, an outright falsehood, rank perjury. Then he'll fall back on the now-standard "dog ate my homework" excuse to explain not reading the email from the then chief of staff, Nigel Wright.

It's hard to say if Duffy will spend any time behind bars but it's possible that Novak might.  At the moment, Novak has two choices - spin wildly implausible tales or expose his prime minister as a chronic and willful liar.

Apology:  Try as I might I was unable to find a suitable Mr. Burns and Smithers clip to post here. My failure has left me deeply remorseful.


4 comments:

John's aghast said...

Well, I can't see any need for him to expose his (our) Prime Minister as a chronic and wilful liar. We already KNOW that.
And if Shif(t)y Steve gets back in he'll just make it against the law to tell the truth

Anonymous said...

You must have seen this morning's story that Kenney is insisting the military did not tell him about the allgations of the Canadian air force bombing civilians? The one that the U.S. is investigating to see if it has any truth. This government is full of Sgt. Schultzes.

the salamander said...

.. so essentially, Ray Novak alleges that Benjamin Perrin lied under oath .. during testimony in Duffy Scandal Trial .. ie Ray Novak was not in the room or was in and out, of Nigel's office, and not present and listening as described in vivid detail by Perrin.. and further, like Woodcock, Ray Novak did not read Nigel's email re paying off Duffy personally. Woodcock of course replied to Nigel Wright within 6 minutes to an email from Nigel he claims not to have read.. how odd..

The Mound of Sound said...

I wonder, Sal, if Novak was simply tossing out something he hoped could help Harper at the polls. He might not be quite so ready to spin this tall tale under oath where that sort of thing can have consequences.

He had just two choices when confronted by Fife. He could have said nothing, the wise move or he could say something that Harper's true believers would find encouraging. Perhaps he's aware that Harper's support seems to be flagging and so he thought that there was nothing to lose from having Fife on.

The one thing that Novak couldn't say was that, yes, Perrin was telling the truth and he was in on it and he did read the email that confirmed it for, once that came out, it would be plain that Harper has been lying to Parliament, to the press and to his own supporters. Especially at this point in mid-campaign that would amount to handing Harper a goblet of Hemlock.