Ezra Levent fills in for David Menzies, who's covering the Tommy Robinson case from across the pond in the UK. David and Ezra discuss the latest updates from yesterday's hearing, and whether or not Tommy should be released on bail.
00:00:00.060Gentlemen and the rest of you, it is Thursday, July 19th, 2018, and this is Battleground.
00:00:15.880Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm David Menzies, filling in for Ezra Levent, and as you well know,
00:00:21.720Ezra Levent is across the pond in the UK. He's been covering the Tommy trial, and why don't we just start with that, folks?
00:00:28.440Actually, nothing new to report from yesterday. If you missed our updates from yesterday, I can tell you what the status of the Tommy trial is.
00:00:39.580The Chief Justice says they have a complicated task in front of them. I'm not so sure why it's complicated, but I'm not a legal eagle, but I'll take him at his word.
00:00:51.780And they hope to complete this complicated task by the end of July, so almost two weeks to go.
00:01:00.240And as Ezra has adroitly noted, if it is so complicated, and if Tommy really isn't a threat to public safety,
00:01:08.820why not let him out of prison in the meantime? Why not release him?
00:01:13.280And apparently that's off the table, which is too bad, because what came out of the trial was the shocking treatment
00:01:22.280Tommy has received on the behalf of his jailers.
00:01:27.520This case, the more you delve into it, folks, it just reeks and reeks,
00:01:32.720and it completely suggests to me that Tommy is a political prisoner.
00:01:38.420And I say this based on the fact that it just looks like the UK is shooting the messenger
00:01:44.660as opposed to addressing the problem that the messenger is addressing himself.
00:01:50.000And also based on case law precedent in the UK, where contempt of court penalties,
00:01:57.560and I'm talking about serial contempt of court violators, folks, never receiving this kind of a penalty
00:02:06.600when Tommy was hauled off on May 25th and had that five-minute sham trial, I call it,
00:02:14.080to get a 13-month sentence, completely disproportionate to whatever has happened in the UK before