The report on the cross-examination of David Radler that was aired in CBC News' The National wasn't the lead tonight, but it was the second report of the newscast. The report itself was filed by Neil Macdonald, who began by mentioning that the cross-examination started at 2 PM Central time. He noted that Mr. Radler refused to “take the bait,” regarding the scriptedness of his testimony under direct examination. Later in the cross-examination, Eddie Greenspan attacked Mr. Radler’s version of how the newspaper empire got off the ground. He pointed to the LBJ article and Conrad Black's attendance at the Bilderberg conferences. Mr. Radler, though, didn’t crack. (Actually, Csr. Greenspan tried several ploys today, none of which shattered Mr. Radler's composure.) Mr. Macdonald also said that Csr. Greenspan was “sarcastic” & “very angry” in court.
Right after that report, the interview with Richard Siklos, the author of Shades of Black, began:
According to Mr. Siklos, it was hard to tell how successful the cross-examination was. Csr. Greenspan was “over the top,” and Mr. Radler got “frazzled” as a result, but he didn’t crack. It was an in-the-face cross-examination, which included Csr. Greenspan (probably deliberately) coughing and sniffing at Mr. Radler while hovering over him. (Mr. Radler is a germophobe.)
Mr. Siklos also mentioned that Conrad Black dropped his expressionless demeanor and “quietly chuckled to himself” once the cross-examination started.
As far as the first part of the cross-examination itself is concerned, it basically was a draw. The prosecution had earlier used Mr. Radler very skillfully as a witness, but in some respects his testimony was disappointing: he came close regarding the scheme, but garnered no cigar with regard to directions from Mr. Black to he. Mr. Radler never came out and said it explicitly.
[An updated report, webbed at CBC News, has a link to a broadbanded copy of Mr. Macdonald's televised report.]
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