How Conrad Black became Canada’s version of Rudy Giuliani
Ever since the Nov. 3 U.S. election, Rudy Giuliani has been Donald Trump’s biggest cheerleader, heading up Trump’s frantic efforts to overturn the election results. In Canada, Conrad Black has emerged as our own version of Giuliani.
Not to be outdone by Giuliani, Black has in recent weeks kicked up his loud, long-held support for Trump and now ranks among the president’s most fawning loyalists.
Like Giuliani, the former Canadian business mogul and ex-u.s. convict has appeared on American talk shows spreading the same conspiracy theories and misinformation about the election, including discredited allegations of widespread voter fraud on the part of Democrats.
Stunningly, in the aftermath of last week’s riots on Capitol Hill, Black continues to heap praise on Trump.
He insists on conservative talk shows that Trump did nothing wrong in the lead-up to the Capitol Hill insurrection, that the rioters “were not Trump supporters” and that top Republicans who are now distancing themselves from Trump are “repulsive” and “disgraceful.”
For all his sycophantic praise, Black received his reward — Trump pardoned him in 2019. Black was convicted in 2007 of fraud and obstruction of justice and served three and a half years in a Florida prison before being released and deported to Canada.
In 2020, Black continued to fawn over Trump, writing last month in The Hill, a top U.S. political website, that Trump’s record in office “has been a tour de force.”
On Dec. 23, Trump again rewarded Black by pardoning former Hollinger Inc. executives John Boultbee and Peter Atkinson, two of Black’s pals who were convicted of fraud along with Black in 2007. The official press release noted the pardons were granted with the “support of Lord Black.”
On Jan. 5, Black was on the “America First” show with host Sebastian Gorka on the conservative-leaning Salem Radio network arguing that Trump “was cheated out of the election.” He repeatedly called the election “tainted,” “dishonest” and “stolen.” He alleged “Democrats stuffed the ballot boxes with their 4 a.m. helicopter drops in the presidential election in Georgia.” He called the Democratic candidates in the Georgia run-off election “communists.”
On Jan. 6, the day of the riots, Black retweeted a post that appeared to mock the damage and frightened lawmakers. “The damage to the Capitol was really quite shocking,” the retweeted comment read. “Very disturbing picture below showing that plastic water bottles were littered on floor of Capitol, rather than being properly placed in recycling. One can hardly blame congressmen for abandoning premises.”
Did Black miss the news that people died in the riot? On Jan. 9, three days after the riot, Black said on the “Pro America Report” podcast with Ed Martin that Trump “did not incite that violence … The vandals that surged into the Capitol building were not Trump supporters ... The damage and threat to anyone’s safety, that wasn’t done by Trump supporters.”
Compare that with comments this week by Liz Cheney, the third-ranking House Republican leader, who said Trump “summoned this mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack. There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
Clearly, Black deserves the tag as “Canada’s Rudy Giuliani.”