The explanations of the director of the CNI on Pegasus do not convince the partners of the Government

The explanations that the director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), Paz Esteban, has given this morning for almost four hours have not convinced the Government's partners.

The parties that have supported Pedro Sánchez have received the spy chief's reasons with a mixture of skepticism and expectation, but in the end they have not convinced the spokespersons for ERC, JxCAT, EH Bildu or the CUP , nor to the PNV.

All those parties have requested, to conclude the session, that an investigation commission be formed and also that the documents that Esteban has shown them be declassified so that all citizens can see them.

These reserved papers have served to demonstrate that the CNI legally and with judicial authorization spied on twenty pro-independence supporters, including the current Catalan president,

Pere Aragonès (ERC).

The head of the spies has disassociated herself from the rest of the supposedly spied on people on the Citizen Lab list, whose list brings the alleged spies to 63.

The question now is who has spied – if it has been so – on the other 45 people linked to separatism.

The ERC spokesman, Gabriel Rufián, assured after leaving the meeting that Esteban had told "the same thing that had already been leaked" about the espionage, and that "it points to two ways: basically [that it came] from a foreign nation or two;

or from State agencies that have spied beyond their legal possibilities.”

The Catalan deputy has cited Morocco and Russia as an example and in a figurative sense.

No parliamentary spokesman has corroborated these latest statements by the Republican.

Ciudadanos and Vox have stated that they are considering filing a lawsuit against the ERC spokesperson for having revealed information about espionage on independentistas transferred by Paz Esteban.

The Ruffian himself in that he has not revealed anything secret and what he has said about the sources of espionage was "an interpretation".

More information

The director of the CNI confirms the legal espionage of some twenty independentistas and disassociates herself from the Citizen Lab list

The ERC representative has commented, in huddles with journalists in a corridor of Congress, that the director said that she could not talk about the

and has ruled that politically she left the meeting "even more worried than how she entered", and with the idea that, effectively, this case could destroy the legislature and democracy.

In Rufián's opinion, "the situation of the minister [Margarita] Robles is unsustainable."

Míriam Nogueras, from JxCat, has gone further: “We left angry and with the reinforced idea that it is essential to carry out an investigation, to set up an investigative commission in Congress to be able to put light and stenographers on everything that is being told to us” , added the politician, whose telephone number is among those spied on: "We independence politicians are not a terrorist threat."

"We don't have high hopes pinned on a secret commission.

Its virtuality and utility remains to be seen.

There are a lot of things that need to be cleared up."

🎙 Statements by @MertxeAizpurua at the entrance of the Official Secrets Commission where the director of the CNI appears today.

pic.twitter.com/DIsSagbJOd

– EH Bildu Congress - Senate (@EHBilduCongreso) May 5, 2022

Mertxe Aizpurua, from EH Bildu, a new formation in the commission, has assured that the explanations have been “completely insufficient”.

“Many doubts persist and we continue with the same unknowns that we had at the entrance.

Many doubts and few surprises”, she has summed up.

📺 @miriamnoguerasm to @plantabaixatv3: "We are not satisfied with this Commission of Official Secrets. We are convinced that there is an Investigation Commission. This is due to a mass espionage of the independence movement. So they need to be explained, please tell me the entire citizenry.”

pic.twitter.com/tHEOZehE3d

– Together for Catalonia Congress and Senat (@JuntsxCatMadrid) May 5, 2022

Pablo Echenique, from United We Can, has also concluded after the meeting that the situation is serious: "We left this commission more concerned than how we had entered and what has been told there reinforces the need to assume political responsibilities".

Echenique has already officially asked the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, to declassify the documentation that this Thursday the director of the CNI has shown in the secret commission.

About the Official Secrets Commission:

1) There are no secrets.

Neither official nor unofficial

2) Nothing has been said that the CNI has not already leaked

3) There are only 2 ways.

Either it has been another country or it has been another state agency

And 3 is an interpretation.

I repeat, an INTERPRETATION.

– Gabriel Rufián (@gabrielrufian) May 5, 2022

Also at the exit, the PP spokesperson, Cuca Gamarra, was satisfied with the information provided by the director of the CNI and considered that these data have been more than enough if you want to understand the situation, according to management sources of the group.

Edmundo Bal (Cs): "We have reaffirmed our confidence in the legality, regularity, correctness and timeliness of the CNI's action in this matter that concerns us"

👉 https://t.co/6n12ZZGZAL pic.twitter.com/ EXfvPRW8o2

– RTVE News (@rtvenoticias) May 5, 2022

Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, spokesman for Vox, gave his support to Paz Esteban, whose work at the CNI he praised.

“I hope that an intelligence professional, with more than 40 years of experience, sees her activity supported, making sure that everything has been done under the designs of the law;

and I hope that the person who appears does not take any kind of responsibility” for the espionage, she said.

In this line, Edmundo Bal, from Ciudadanos, asked that the director of espionage not reveal secrets that affect the security of the State "in front of ERC and Bildu".

While the meeting was being held, which lasted almost four hours, the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, showed his "support and solidarity" with the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, the day after the clash between their respective ministries to see who He is responsible for the security hole that has led to the cell phone of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, suffering an intrusion and practically all the information it contained could be extracted from it.

"Minister Robles and I work together, last night I called her to convey all my support and solidarity, because we are working to clarify the facts and to take measures so that this does not happen again," he said.

Asked who is responsible for the security breach in Pedro Sánchez's mobile, he replied that the entire Executive works so that this cannot be repeated: "The Government as a whole works every day to clarify the facts of which we had knowledge during the weekend (...) the responsibility lies with the Government as a whole so that the democratic institutions function with all the guarantees and so that the Spaniards are clear that the right to privacy and that the secrecy of communications are guaranteed."