Eleven hours and 19 minutes in the morning. First Vice President and Minister of Finance, Maria Jesus Monteroleaves the stage after responding to a question from BNG regarding improving Galicia’s financing.
at that time, Jose Luis Abalos He drops a bomb in the form of a tweet: “The interview between Sanchez, Santos Cerdán and Otegui in 2018 existed. Personal sources told me.”
His account contradicts Sanchez’s denial last Monday.
The entrance to the chamber is usually called M-30, and if there is a rush hour, this is the time when the First Vice President leaves.
Journalists gather around the sides and form blocs, knowing that she is the official spokeswoman. informal To the government. The one who always answers the questions of the day.
After leaving the podium, Montero returns to the blue seat and speaks briefly with the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Felix BolañosShe picks up her bag and leaves the room.
At that moment, a veteran journalist shouted: “Oh my God!” He just read Abalos’ tweet and showed it to a small group on the stairs.
Everyone goes to the former minister’s X profile.
Ábalos’ statements began being shared via WhatsApp. At that moment, Montero begins speaking to the media.
At that time, Sanchez was no longer there. He came out after responding to Feijóo who mentioned Otegi in his speech.
They ask him about the stability method that will be voted on Thursday in Congress. It doesn’t seem very optimistic. So, if you’re worried that Abalos might go to jail. “We have to respect what the courts say,” he says.
This is followed by a question about whether he sees Ruffian as a candidate for the left. He praised him as “a sincere man who understands everything.”
At that moment, the bomb dropped by Abalos, former Minister of Transport and former Secretary General of the Socialist Workers’ Party organisation, had a full impact on the government.
“Mr. Abalos has just published,” says one journalist.
Another adds: “Mr. Abalos says they confirmed the meeting between Sanchez and Cerdan with Otegui.”
“Personal sources,” says a third. Everyone with their cell phones, reading the tweet that other colleagues sent them.
Nudges and cell phones
In the room seats, elbows and phones are also smoked.
A crowd of journalists gathers around the Vice President, who does not hesitate to respond with some confusion: “I’d be surprised if it was now He was pinned in a lie And with behavior we have not seen from Mr. Abalos.”
The Vice President comes forward. He didn’t read the tweet, but he spoke. Already in the courtyard he asks to display the message of Abalos. Doesn’t give credit.
WhatsApp does not stop. Journalists transmit it to deputies. Representatives to other representatives. The murmur grows in the room.
Minister Bolaños checks his cell phone while speaking Pippa MilanFrom Fox, who berates the minister because he owes the portfolio to “Mr. Otegi.”
The representative stood at 11:20, one minute after the tweet that changed the day.
In case Bolaños, who was attentive to the response, did not know about the news, the People’s Party deputy, Cayetana Alvarez de ToledoHe presents this in his speech: “Albalos just said that the secret meeting between Sánchez, Cerdán and Otegui existed. This is the first thing he should clarify in this forum: Did Sánchez lie again? What a spectacle of a government in the hands of criminals, convicts and suspects!”
When you exit, the expectation continues. The cameras form a blockage in the stairs through which the deputies descend towards the annex building.
Bolaños was overwhelmed by the microphones as he left, and he could only say that it was a lie, and that the meeting had not taken place.
Some deputies assert that they were monitoring their cell phones “and watching how Abalos presses the keyboard.”
“I don’t know what he’s up to,” says one Socialist Workers’ Party MP in disbelief. But everyone thinks that the war has just begun.