Bill Blair accuses Rebel reporter of 'assuming facts' in Han Dong-Chinese interference scandal

Rebel News' Alexa Lavoie confronted Defence Minister Bill Blair on Wednesday regarding the potential wrongdoings of former Liberal MP Han Dong after China allegedly bussed in foreign nationals to vote for him.

Blair was asked by Lavoie if he still believes Dong is free from wrongdoing, given the calibre of Chinese government election meddling that has been revealed during the Foreign Interference Committee in the past few days.

Rebel News reporter Alexa Lavoie (@TheVoiceAlexa) asks Bill Blair, then-public safety minister, if former Liberal MP Han Dong did anything wrong when China allegedly bussed in foreign nationals to vote for him.https://t.co/irUitH5vNc pic.twitter.com/UiSPTHTq3S

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) April 10, 2024

"We have some intelligence reporting that we have responded to, you're now assuming facts, and that's a different thing," Blair—who was the public safety minister at the time of the alleged wrongdoing—said before abruptly walking away.

Records indicate that Dong secured a closely fought victory in a contested Liberal nomination race on September 12, 2019. His success was allegedly buoyed by the backing of Mandarin-speaking international students, who were transported from the New Oriental International College Academy in Markham, Ontario, according to testimony heard at the commission and as reported by Blacklock`s.

During Wednesday's committee, Trudeau stated "There were concerns from CSIS that China might have been behind this, and that those students on the bus might have been motivated or mobilized to vote in that way, and there were concerns that CSIS had."

Trudeau explains how he was informed in September 2019 that there was serious CCP hanky panky in Han Dong's nomination in DVN.

But he didn't do anything, obviously. He said he saw no proof of anything - except all those foreign nationals showing up on a bus to vote for Han… pic.twitter.com/wjZ4DMAcEO

— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 10, 2024

"I asked to the extent they were certain that it happened and that China was indeed behind the mobilizing of the buses, and I also asked if CSIS had information if Han Dong knew about this. whether he was willing and aware that Chinese officials had mobilized buses for him or not. The answers were not clear from CSIS at that point,” he said.

Trudeau then stated that he believed the intelligence given to him was merely to "[let] us know so we know" and could "perhaps take any action we deemed appropriate."

Trudeau says that he was given info in a memo in January 2020 that despite the very obvious problems in Han Dong's riding in 2019, there was no PRC interference. pic.twitter.com/S1Y3q4TvF4

— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 11, 2024

Dong remained a member of the Liberals until he resigned in March of 2023 after a report showed that he secretly advised a Chinese diplomat in 2021 to delay the freeing of the two Michaels.