Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will issue a public statement on the SNC-Lavalin scandal in a Thursday morning press conference in Ottawa.
Trudeau is expected to offer his reaction to Wednesday’s testimonies from his former principal secretary Gerald Butts and Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick.
He will take questions from journalists following the 8 a.m. presser, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed to Global News.
READ MORE: Jody Wilson-Raybould says she’s willing to give additional testimony on SNC-Lavalin
The embattled prime minister had been expected to change his tone on the SNC-Lavalin controversy.
On Tuesday, he cancelled a planned trip to Regina, instead returning to Ottawa for an emergency strategy session with senior staff and advisers to plot a way forward on a scandal that threatens to topple his government.
A senior government source told Global News that Trudeau is likely to strike a more apologetic and less defensive tone on the matter, while not acknowledging wrongdoing.
His previous approach was to portray the actions of his office and officials as being above reproach and purely motivated by saving the jobs of SNC-Lavalin workers.
WATCH: Raitt says Canadians want to hear full story on SNC-Lavalin
Former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould has alleged that the prime minister, his senior staff and government officials put inappropriate pressure on her to intervene in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, citing jobs and a looming election.
On Wednesday, Wilson-Raybould issued a statement saying she is willing to offer further testimony on the matter to the House of Commons justice committee, following on from her Feb. 27 hearing.
— With files from Mercedes Stephenson
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