Bruce Lehrmann denies evading questioning from fmr boss
Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has told his Federal court defamation hearing he was unaware of attempts by Network Ten to contact him before it aired an interview with Brittany Higgins.
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00:00 Well, Network 10 was obliged to seek his response, given the story was about him, even though
00:07 he wasn't named.
00:09 And we now know that two emails were sent to his Hotmail account, including one the
00:14 morning before the project interview aired.
00:19 He says that he didn't see them, although there is some conflicting evidence about when
00:25 he knew journalists were trying to contact him.
00:28 He said that he had flirted with the idea of making a comment in the media around that
00:33 time and had taken advice from others not to do it.
00:38 He'd feared if he did say something, perhaps he would be named.
00:43 But there is some sort of confusion about when he did realize that journalists had been
00:52 trying to contact him.
00:53 He told staff at a medical facility where he went.
00:56 He'd been contacted in the morning, but he's told the court it was in the afternoon.
01:03 So still a few things to be resolved.
01:08 But of course, Bruce Lehman's action is all about – he says he was defamed after his
01:18 trial was abandoned and there were no findings against him.
01:23 So things have moved forward a bit during the morning, haven't they?
01:26 What's happened?
01:27 Well, the Network 10 cross-examination team has finished its work and now we've moved
01:35 on to Lisa Wilkinson's lawyer, who is questioning Bruce Lehman about statements he'd made about
01:47 Lisa Wilkinson defaming him in her Logie speech and threatening his trial.
01:55 So I guess we'll get into that a little bit more as the afternoon goes on.
01:59 But we've also seen two confidential – or reference to two confidential settlements
02:07 with the ABC and with Newslife Media.
02:10 They're likely to be tended as evidence, although we may not see them, they may be kept confidential.
02:17 So that will also be one of the arguments that will have to be had as the case progresses.
02:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]