Ezra Levant details Justin Trudeau’s bodyguards assaulting Rebel News reporter David Menzies at a 2020 Ottawa Liberal party, smashing his face and refusing ID despite legal obligations. Trudeau had denied Rebel accreditation, calling them misinformers and polarizers, while police—including RCMP—failed to charge the officers. Rebel’s lawsuit against the government and three officers costs up to $100K; supporters can fund it at standwithdavid.com or sign a petition demanding officer suspension. The attack signals escalating threats to press freedom, with Levant warning it could embolden further repression, leaving independent media as the sole defenders of democratic accountability. [Automatically generated summary]
Our friend David Menzies was attacked not by some mugger and not by some antifathug or some street urchin, but by Justin Trudeau's personal bodyguards.
He wasn't charged with anything.
He wasn't arrested.
He was just beat up and then they let him go.
They never even said what he did.
He was standing on a sidewalk the whole time just waiting to ask a question.
It's crazy.
We have a petition.
We have a website.
We're launching a lawsuit.
I'll get into all that in today's show.
You can see the lawsuit for yourself at standwithdavid.com.
Obviously, this is one of those times where a podcast doesn't do the story justice.
You'll want to see the actual videotape because that's the thing.
We had two cameras there.
David had a camera and we had a cameraman accompanying him who recorded the whole shocking thing.
I'd like you to see that.
You can see that at standwithdavid.com.
Or of course, you can watch this whole episode as a video by signing up for RebelNewsPlus.com.
Just go there and click subscribe.
All right, here's today's show.
Please!
You cannot trust me.
You move us out.
They smashed my face into a wooden wall.
Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
The only thing I have to say is the government goes on to my bloody right to do so.
I'm angry and sad at the same time Justin Trudeau's bodyguards beat up our reporter David Menzies.
It was completely unprovoked.
David was standing on a public sidewalk outside a public event where Trudeau was going to a Liberal Christmas party.
David was doing what all media do, waiting patiently to call out a question to Trudeau as he walked in.
But Trudeau's bodyguards know rebel news and they hate rebel news because Trudeau hates rebel news.
Trudeau says it again and again.
He says we're not real reporters.
He says we don't deserve any respect.
He publicly blames us for this sorry state of Canada.
He personally bans us from attending public press conferences.
And if we manage to get into one, he insults us instead of answering our public questions.
He controls most Canadian media, but he can't control us.
He hates us for that, and it shows.
It's a real shame to see the Conservatives using lines straight out of Rebel magazine and rebel webcast.
The rebels should not be writing commentary and questions for the members opposite.
They should know to disassociate themselves from that kind of politics and those kinds of personal attacks.
It's disappointing to see the Conservatives engage in peddling, engage in peddling rebel media, conspiracy theories, conspiracy theories.
Don't Touch Me!00:05:23
Okay, let's go.
Don't touch me.
This is Ottawa, Canada, 2020, when Justin Trudeau is having his RCMP throw out a journalist for no reason, because I wouldn't show him my phone!
I wouldn't show him what pictures I've taken.
So after demonizing us and denormalizing us and defaming us for five years, his staff got the message.
And so they attacked us.
Let me play a few minutes of it for you.
Get out of the room.
Huh?
What's wrong?
I hit my car.
Huh?
Yeah.
You'd like to see that.
I wouldn't like to see that at all.
It needs a lot of paperwork for me.
Yeah.
Stay back.
What are you doing?
Get it!
Get off me!
Hey, I can.
Hey, this is assault.
I'm on a side.
What is this?
I'm on a sidewalk.
What is this?
You cannot touch me.
No, that's not working.
Are you kidding?
Are you kidding?
I follow you.
What is this?
You can't.
Am I under arrest?
Because otherwise you have no right!
You're out of my sight!
You're out of my sight!
Wow.
Get off of me.
relax that's all recorded You're a thug.
You are a thug.
What are your names?
Give me your name and your badge cover.
Give me your name and your badge number.
Okay, hold on.
Give me your name and your badge number.
Hold on.
Come over here.
Get your hands off.
You have no right to put your hands on me on a public sidewalk.
Am I under arrest?
Am I under arrest?
Why are you asking?
Because you're not answering.
You physically assaulted me, and so did you.
And so did this guy.
Move your hand out of my face.
Move your hand out of my face.
What?
Move your hand out.
Guys.
You have your hand on my throat.
What's your problem?
Why are you guys rubbering that tough talk?
You witnessed.
You witnessed that.
Oh, I don't see it.
That was aggression.
What about his watch?
What about his watch?
And his phone?
Yeah.
How about that?
You're going to pay for that?
Guys.
Are you going to pay for that?
Excuse me, I just have a question.
Are you guys going to do anything about the watch?
What does he do about it?
Does he just get a new one?
Like, who pays for that?
Are you guys proud of yourself?
You can't pay me in the door.
You can't touch me if I'm not under arrest.
I haven't touched you.
I'm standing in the window.
Okay, stand at the door.
I am, and I'm like the train seal you are.
You censorious thugs.
Your boys would not approve of this, would they?
No, they would not.
Would your friends approve of this?
What the hell were you thinking?
Would your mother and father approve of that?
No.
What were you thinking?
Oh, you're not a tough guy now, eh?
What's he gonna do?
He's just asking questions, and that's how he gets treated.
And you're not a tough guy now, right?
Can be diluted.
David, that's enough, though.
Let's just go.
Unbelievable.
Where go where?
You seem to be a strong.
I just want to talk to you.
Talk right now.
Okay, you know the preempts here.
You're obviously obstructing the motorcade.
That's why you're.
I'm not obstructing the motorcade.
No, you're.
You're a lying liar, and we have it on video.
I was on the sidewalk all the time.
That's your opinion.
No, no, that's my fact.
We have it on two cameras.
They have a job to do.
And you were obviously obstructing the motorcade.
That's why they told you to leave.
And you were responding to them.
You're gonna get to know each other intimately in court, my friend.
You're gonna be charged with assault.
You had no right to put your hands on me without me being under arrest.
You should know that.
And I want your name and I want your badge number right now.
Okay, hold on.
You keep saying, hold on.
Give me that information.
This is what I was telling you.
Get this out of my face first.
No, I'm not getting it out of your face.
Corporation is going to stop until this is out of the way.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Okay.
We can talk after about the watch and the folks.
Yeah, when this is off, I said.
No, no, no, no, that's not what you want to cover.
How do you put your hands on somebody that's not under arrest, sir?
What is your name and your badge number?
They smashed David's face against the wall.
You can clearly see that.
David was so stunned, he couldn't speak right.
They beat him up.
David's Assault Revealed00:15:20
They bloodied him.
They destroyed his property.
David had to go to the doctor later that night.
His ears were still ringing, and he was bloodied and cut.
There is no excuse for this.
David did nothing wrong.
He was never arrested.
He was never charged with anything.
He committed no crime.
He literally was just standing on the public sidewalk waiting to ask a question.
The crime was committed by Trudeau's thuggish bodyguards who knew they were doing something evil and refused to tell David their names, despite the legal requirement to do so.
They beat him up just because he was with Rebel News.
And Trudeau has let the world know Rebel News does not deserve respect.
Enough is enough.
Every day, Trudeau becomes more of an authoritarian bully.
He rules by decree, not bothering to consult Parliament on most matters.
He's ordered the government to crack down on opponents on the internet, specifically against YouTube channels like us.
And of course, he has banned rebel news reporters from attending any press conferences or even covering the leaders' debates during the election campaign.
First of all, questions around accreditation were handled by the press gallery and the consortium of networks who have strong perspectives on quality journalism and the important information that is shared with Canadians.
The reality is, organizations, organizations like yours that continue to spread misinformation and disinformation on the science around vaccines,
around how we're going to actually get through this pandemic and be there for each other and keep our kids safe, is part of why we're seeing such unfortunate anger and lack of understanding of basic science.
And quite frankly, your I won't call it a media organization, your group of individuals need to take accountability for some of the polarization that we're seeing in this country.
And I think Canadians are cluing into the fact that there is a really important decision we take about the kind of country we want to see.
And I salute all extraordinary, hardworking journalists that put science and facts at the heart of what they do and ask me tough questions every day, but make sure that they are educating and informing Canadians from a broad range of perspectives, which is the last thing that you guys do.
And would you have the obligation to answer my question as Prime Minister or would you still have to diabolize my media?
I shared my perspective on your organization this evening.
I have nothing to say.
That was quite a telling moment.
Mere hours after the Federal Court of Canada ruled that Rebel News must be accredited at the leaders' debates.
Trudeau refused to answer our reporters' questions, saying we were not, in fact, journalists, even though the federal court just said that we were.
He defied and disrespected the court order upholding our charter rights.
Is it any wonder that his personal bodyguards feel they don't have to obey the law either?
This is the worst thing that has ever happened to a rebel news reporter in our seven years.
We've had street thugs and antifung members attack our reporters, but never a government thug.
The Toronto Police Service came quickly because of the assault, but they refused to lay charges against Trudeau's bodyguards.
Despite the assault being caught on video, they know it would be career suicide to cross Trudeau that way, so we have to go to court ourselves.
Today we filed a lawsuit on behalf of David.
It's very simple, just 10 pages long.
You can read it for yourself at standwithdavid.com.
It details the vicious assault by Trudeau's henchmen, and it also describes how this was entirely foreseeable.
For five years, Trudeau has demonized us as an enemy.
It was only a matter of time before his personal staff took the hint and beat up a rebel news reporter to please their master.
This isn't how we live in Canada.
This is the kind of thing you might expect from an authoritarian regime like Turkey or Russia or Venezuela.
Imagine if Stephen Harper's bodyguards had beat up a CBC reporter, but I fear that because most of the media is on Justin Trudeau's payroll now through the bailout, they're going to be silent or even say that David deserved it.
Please help us fight back for David.
It's not just David who got beat up by Trudeau.
It's the very idea of a free and independent press and the right of non-government journalists to ask questions of our political class.
If Trudeau and his thugs can get away with this, what's next?
If you agree with me, please go to standwithdavid.com.
Help chip in to cover our lawsuit against Trudeau.
We're suing the RCMP, the three officers involved, and the government itself.
You can see the lawsuit at that page.
And please sign our petition to Brenda Lucky, Trudeau's hand-picked RCMP commissioner who has done nothing but protect Trudeau and investigate his enemies.
Tell her that she must suspend her three thugs who beat up David and call in an outside investigator to review their misconduct.
I have watched that video of David being assaulted three times now, and each time it makes me feel worse.
Not just for how brutish the RCMP has become towards David himself, but for also how brutish they have become towards our freedoms as Canadians.
Please help me stand with David.
Go to standwithdavid.com, sign our petition to the RCMP Commissioner, and if you can, please help us cover the cost of suing Trudeau's thugs for David.
We're going up against the entire resources of the federal government.
This really is a David and Goliath moment.
Let me know if you stand with David.
I'm sitting here with Lincoln Jay.
He's one of our videographers and an occasional reporter himself.
Lincoln has been roughed up by police before too, both in the city of Toronto and the city of Montreal.
I regret that the pandemic has given all authorities this new tyrannical edge, this new authoritarian edge that they didn't have before.
Because when you're going about the substance of rolling back someone's rights, it's not a surprise that your style matches.
When your job is to break through historic civil liberties and to roll them back, to say you can't leave your house, you can't go on public transit, you can't go in the public square, you can't have your job.
When that's the substance of what you're doing, is it any surprise that violence emerges from the state?
And Justin Trudeau not only supports lockdowns and things like that, but he has been on a five-year jihad against critical journalists, Rebel News being amongst the top of them.
Lincoln, I'm sorry with what happened very much, but I'm so glad that you were there to record it.
Some of what happened was recorded on David's own cell phone, but most of it was on yours.
We played the video.
Tell me what it was like to be there in person.
It was just shocking.
To be honest, the whole thing was shocking.
We were standing on that exact sidewalk where the incident took place.
You were standing there for a good hour.
You know, Trudeau's officials were walking by us, the same people that attacked David.
We saw them multiple times before this, you know, never once told us to move, never once said anything.
And let me check, you were on the sidewalk.
100% on the sidewalk, as the video shows.
Yeah.
You know, I was just reviewing the law.
There is a special law that our courts have developed that if you are very close to a VIP, could be a foreign ambassador, foreign leader, prime minister, the police have the right to search your bag.
And if you don't like it, you can leave the really close to the big shot area.
Normally, if police say what's in your bag, you say, come back with a search warrant.
But if you are very close to a prime minister, the police can search your bag, but they have to ask you.
If you decline, you can just move away.
That's the only wrinkle about being near a VIP.
It doesn't say you can attack someone.
You can punch someone.
And they never asked to inspect anything that David had.
They didn't say, let me look at your bag.
They knew he was David Menzies.
All he had in his bag was a microphone.
Exactly.
I don't know.
The whole thing just seemed targeted.
I was standing right beside David.
They did not touch me.
Well, that's the thing.
That's what's weird.
I mean, David, I don't know his exact age.
I think he's about 60.
He's pretty fit.
But he's got, you know, I don't think it's a secret to say he's got two artificial hips.
He's 60.
You're a young lad in your 20s, pretty strong fella.
They didn't touch you.
They went after the 60-year-old guy with two fake hips.
Why wouldn't they go after you?
You were both a team, so obviously.
I think it was a vendetta.
To be honest, I couldn't agree more.
It's just, like, you see how close.
I'm literally right beside David.
Well, the camera was there.
Like, you were standing like this.
They're not putting a paw on me.
Right at the beginning, they kind of just kind of guided me to try to get me out of the way, but it was just like immediately it went from zero to 100.
They went after David.
They pinned him against the wall.
And as you see in the video, it was brutal.
You know what?
I mean, I was so focused on what they did to David, I wasn't thinking that you were one foot away from him.
Like, as close as you and I are right here.
One foot.
And they didn't touch you other than that one time where they just sort of gently push you.
That makes no sense.
There's no sense to that, because if David was in the way, you were in the way.
If David was a threat, surely you.
I mean, you're a pretty fit guy.
Not that you have a hostile bone in your body, but if there was a threat, it ain't the 60-year-old guy.
Yep.
You can see in the video too, they tell me all they told me, they told me to get out of the way, and I simply walked past them and continued to film, and they never told me once again to get out of the way.
That is so, you know, I didn't think about this until you just mentioned.
I was so focused about what they did to David.
Now, they smacked his head against the wall.
And that's stunning in both definitions of the word.
It's stunning.
Like, you're stunned.
You're physically stunned.
Your brain is jostled.
You know.
David told me he was hearing, he may have had a concussion from that.
But you're also morally stunned.
You're shocked that your government is doing this to you.
So-called police, you're shocked.
So when he first tried to speak, what's your name?
What's your badge?
Why did you do this?
It was almost like his voice was slurred, and I think that was both because he was psychologically, what is happening, but also he just had his head smashed.
I'm telling you guys, being there on the scene, like in the moment when everything was happening, I couldn't believe my eyes, first of all, how they were treating David.
Like, we're there to ask questions.
Okay, that's the bottom line.
And, you know, during the moment, it was just so much was going on.
They smash his head against the wall, his watch comes off, his phone's on the ground, mic flashes down.
It was just like, to be honest, the way they were treating him, I thought David was arrested and he was being taken away, but they simply let him walk away.
It was just a mugging without like just a random act of violence.
It was a random act of violence.
Totally.
There's no, like, I don't know.
There's no justification for that.
Like, you know, no warning, nothing, just gone.
I'm so mad.
I'm so glad you caught it on film.
David has been, you know, he's spent a few days now.
I mean, he's gone to the doctor.
He's taken notes.
His fingers were all bloody.
His head was smashed.
This is crazy stuff.
And yet he still, it didn't, the full gravity of things didn't really sink in.
He still tried to do journalism after that.
That's David.
He's a trooper.
But, you know, when we were giving the, when the police came by and everything, he was like, he had no cough the whole day, nothing.
He was like, like, kept on coughing.
He felt winded.
Like, David was really knocked up from this.
Well, you know, I am very mad about what happened.
And you've heard me say this in staff meetings before.
When our people are attacked, I feel like it's I myself who've been attacked.
And I think our viewers should feel like they have been attacked.
Because David is not out there on a cold night in Toronto staking out Trudeau's Christmas party for his own edification.
He's there to tell the other side of the story for our viewers.
So he's in the service of the company, in the service of me theoretically as the boss.
But he's doing so for the benefit and the public interest of our viewers.
And so when Trudeau's henchmen attack David, they're attacking me.
They're attacking you even though thank God they didn't touch you.
But they're attacking our viewers and their right to know.
And I believe we must join and stand with David.
That's our website we have.
It's called Stand With David.
You can see the lawsuit.
It's a very simple lawsuit.
There's not a lot to say.
For five years, Trudeau denigrated Rebel News.
His henchmen got the message.
One day they mugged him.
That's what this was.
It was a mugging.
It was a mugging.
There was no arrest.
There's no investigation.
There was no charges.
It's a mugging.
Yep, it's a mugging.
You know, no warning, absolutely nothing.
Let us walk completely free around after.
Unbelievable.
Well, go to standwithdavid.com, read the lawsuit.
It's a simple lawsuit, plain English.
Sign the petition to Brenda Lucky, Trudeau's handpicked commissioner of the RCMP.
Fat lot of good that'll do, but we have to try.
And if you can't help us pay for the thing, I got a quote from our lawyers today that this thing could cost up to 75 grand.
I've dealt with lawyers long enough to know that that's a minimum.
This is going to be a $100,000 exercise.
And if we lose, we'll have to appeal.
I don't know how we could possibly lose.
You've seen it all on tape.
Well, Lincoln, I'm glad you were there.
I'm glad you were not attacked.
I feel terrible that our friend David was.
And I promise that we'll keep on this story and we'll keep.
And the fact that we've had to sue the Toronto Police, the Montreal Police, the RCMP, York Regional Police.
In Australia, we've had to sue the Victoria Police that's in a state in Australia for attacking Abhiyamini.
I'm getting a little sick of having to sue police.
And in no case is it because our people committed some crime.
In every case, it's because our people were doing journalism.
And police forces across the West are becoming more like police forces and authoritarian regimes.
And I believe that Rebel News is the pointy edge of the spear in this stuff because we're one of the few media in the world, in the world, in Canada, that doesn't take government money.
And if they come for David today, they'll come for Lincoln tomorrow.
They'll come for me the next day, and then they'll come for you, my friends.
Suing Police for Journalism00:02:13
Exactly.
We are the canary in the coal mine.
Go to standwithdavid.com.
Thanks again.
Stay with us for more.
You know, sometimes I just give you my final thoughts as opposed to reading letters.
Of course, the letters wouldn't be about today's news because you're just hearing it for the first time.
You know, our people are pushed around from time to time.
And I suppose that happens in life.
Occasionally you get jostled or pushed.
And you usually shrug it off if it was nothing serious.
And really, what are you going to do?
We've had some more serious attacks on our people from Antifa, or if you recall, from Dion Bewes, that thuggish guy in Alberta, this NDP activist who punched Sheila Gonread in the face.
And with him, we had a criminal conviction against him, and we sued him in civil court too.
We took it very seriously.
And although I despised the fact that they had Sheila Gonreed, at the end of the day, she was not seriously injured.
The gravity of this assault on David Menzies, even though he could talk afterwards, he was clearly disoriented.
He was bloodied.
I think he was just adrenalized and shocked in the moment.
He's since seen a doctor.
This is a whole other level.
Not only is it the worst physical attack that's ever been done against our rebel news people, but most obviously, it was done by the government and not just any branch of the government, not just any police force.
This was Trudeau's own bodyguards.
That's what makes this the worst.
Trudeau's inner circle, his bodyguards, his henchmen, targeted David.
I didn't really realize it until I was talking to Lincoln.
Lincoln, this big strapping 20-something-year-old hockey player, was standing right there.
They didn't even tell him, they told him to move once and he moved.
They didn't touch him.
They were targeting David Menzies.
They were laying a beating on him.
That was a mugging.
I'm very upset by this.
And the lengths we've gone for our other journalists who have been attacked in the past, we've gone to the great lengths that we can.
And I assure you that we'll do the same for David.
I think we're going to need 75 grand for the lawsuit.
Lincoln's Protection00:00:26
If you want to help, please do.
Go to standwithdavid.com.
And we've got that petition to the RCMP commissioner.
I'm not quite sure what good that'll do.
But it'll be very interesting to see what other media and civil liberties groups in the country have to say.
I think we're going to be met with silence.
I'll let you know how it goes.
That's our show for today.
Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night.