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Rob Ford's Lawyer Says Police Should Release 'Crack' Video

Ford's Lawyer Says Police Should Release Video

Rob Ford's lawyer says police should release the video that reportedly shows the Toronto mayor smoking crack cocaine.

In interviews with the Toronto Sun and The Globe and Mail, Dennis Morris said Police Chief Bill Blair should release the video because Ford is being convicted in the media without evidence.

“He’s happy that this thing is going to come to a conclusion in the sense that there is a video and he wants it seen by the public as soon as possible,” Morris told the Globe. There is no way to know what substance Ford is smoking on the tape Morris said.

Morris told the Sun that the mayor continues to assert there is no video of him smoking crack and argued that the release of the video held by police would actually be a good thing for Ford.

“That would be the best thing for the mayor,” Morris said. “Our position has always been we have not seen, or know of, a video of the mayor smoking crack cocaine and that is still our position.”

Ford's lawyer argued to the Sun that Blair should resign for damning the mayor in the court of public opinion.

"I was taken aback," Morris said. "It was over the top. That is not his job."

Morris also spoke with radio station AM640. Give a listen below.

The mayor's brother, Councillor Doug Ford, spoke with AM640's John Oakley Friday and echoed many of Morris' talking points.

"The chief says there's a video. I believe the chief. But when you're the mayor and people are taking tens of thousands of video shots of you and pictures — if it happens a year ago, a year and a half ago — Johnny, you were there June the 25th, a year and a half ago; do you remember the video that you took?" Doug Ford asked.

The comments give hints to what the mayor's damage-control strategy will be in the coming days and months after the announcement that police are in possession of the infamous video and the release of hundreds of pages of documents detailing the police investigation into Ford and his associates.

A criminal lawyer told the Sun that the video would not prove any law was broken, echoing Blair's words at his press conference Thursday. In a nutshell, it's impossible to prove what substance Ford smokes in the footage.

But that doesn't mean Ford can't talk about it. The mayor argued Thursday that he could not comment on the video revelations because the matter is before the courts. That's a position that was refuted by several legal experts in interviews with the Toronto Star.

But there are accusations that Ford is already talking about the video. AM640 talk radio host Bill Carroll said he's almost positive Ford called in to his show with a fake name Thursday to argue that the mayor must not have known he was being taped and that even if he does have a substance abuse problem, it would be a personal matter and not grounds for resignation or removal.

As for when the public is likely to see the video, Global News spoke to a media lawyer who said it's impossible to know.

“If it was just a piece of evidence that the police obtained and it’s not contained in a search warrant or anything like that we may not have any grounds to go and try to get access to it immediately," Peter Jacobsen said. “The fact that they’ve announced that they’ve found the video is interesting. It’s not often what the police do … but I guess because this is so notorious they wanted to get this out into the public."

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