A senior source close to the investigation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells Hadashot TV News that it was the PM who stalled on holding a confrontation with witnesses, as opposed to his claim that he requested the meeting and was denied.
The source confirms that Netanyahu had twice requested to hold a confrontation with state witnesses. But he said that when police investigators told him that was possible, the premier demurred, saying he would need to confer with his lawyers and then never got back to them.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads the weekly government cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, January 6, 2019 (Alex Kolomoisky/Yedioth Ahronoth/Pool)
“We understood that Netanyahu didn’t want a confrontation because he didn’t get back to us,” the source says. “To [now] say he wants one after the probe has ended is [due to] his desire to stop a decision he realizes will be made very soon.”
Netanyahu’s lawyers reject the claim, saying it is an attempt to pass the blame onto him. “The prime minister demanded twice to confront the state witnesses and the fact that now confrontation was held is a scandal that rests entirely on the shoulders of police,” they say.
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From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
