A Liberal candidate called the cops on Juno News, falsely claiming to be a victim of assault
Episode Stats
Words per minute
175.61154
Summary
In the middle of an election campaign, a journalist asks a politician a tough question. The politician's response is explosive, and the journalist is required to get his side of the story. In this episode, we hear from Thomas Keeper, the Liberal candidate for Calgary Confederation, about what happened after the reporter approached him outside of his campaign office.
Transcript
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I was approaching Thomas Keeper, the Liberal candidate for Calgary Confederation, a toss-up
00:00:05.280
riding that Mark Carney and the Liberals could easily win in Calgary if polling stays consistent.
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I had questions to ask Thomas Keeper about his past, about his relationships with acquaintances
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and friends, serious allegations about Thomas Keeper that I needed to get his side of the story
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on i texted him i called him i emailed him and i approached him outside of his campaign office
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where i had an envelope of the questions to hand him mr keeper thomas hi thomas i just have some
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questions to ask you we just we just have some questions to ask you hi mr keeper okay great
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we just have some questions to ask you this happens from time to time politicians don't
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want to answer tough questions especially when they're prickly especially in the middle of an
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election campaign i understand that this story is so important so explosive that i am required
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obligated as a journalist to responsibly communicate this story with the subject
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Thomas Keeper, and get his side of the story. I was shocked when he called the police on me
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after that interaction that you just saw. The police approached me and they asked me
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if anything happened, if I got physical. I said, no, of course not.
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At any time, was there any physical contact or anything like that?
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Yeah, just the nature of the interaction is just you asking him some questions.
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They went inside to speak with Thomas Keeper himself, the liberal candidate,
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and i decided to go across the street keep things calm and wait for the police to come out and i
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presume they want to chat with me again i was right they did want to chat again to inform
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me that thomas keeper would be seeking a restraining order against me a journalist
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because i got physical with him they may seek a restraining order the restraining order gets
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granted that there may be a clause there with no communication just be careful okay get served a
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a copy of it before it is. I heard your side of the story. I heard a side of the story. I guess
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he's claiming you went in and came in kind of hot and made physical contact with him.
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What? Now you've seen the video yourself. You know that I didn't get physical with Thomas
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Keeper. I didn't assault him. I didn't punch him. I didn't attack him. But he told the police
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that I got physical with him. And that was justification for telling those officers
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that he would be getting a restraining order against me, applying to a judge and lying to
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that judge about the basis of why he was doing that.