Former president Mariano Rajoy denied last Thursday in the Kitchen trial sending a message to PP ex-treasurer Luis Bárcenas reading “hacemos lo que podemos”, despite acknowledging it in 2017 during the Gürtel trial. In that testimony, Rajoy said the message had no meaning. This contradiction arises amid probes into Partido Popular corruption.
Mariano Rajoy testified on Thursday in Spain's Audiencia Nacional during the Kitchen trial over an alleged parapolice operation to undermine the PP's caja B probe. When questioned on messages exchanged with Luis Bárcenas in 2012 and 2013, Rajoy said he did not recall some and outright denied sending the February 26, 2012, SMS: “Luis, nada es fácil. Hacemos lo que podemos”.
By contrast, in his July 26, 2017, testimony as a witness in the Gürtel trial, Rajoy admitted sending that message. “No tiene ningún significado ninguno”, he stated then, adding: “Hacemos lo que podemos significa lo que exactamente significa hacemos lo que podemos (...) Significa que no hicimos nada que pudiera perjudicar a ningún proceso”.
Rajoy did recall another message from January 18, 2013: “Luis. Lo entiendo. Sé fuerte. Mañana te llamaré. Un abrazo”. He attributed his memory of it to frequent media publications over the years. In 2017, on this SMS, he said: “Uno no siempre acierta en la vida (...) pero no hice absolutamente nada”.
In the PP caja B trial in 2021, Rajoy only remembered that last message, setting a pattern of forgetfulness echoed this week. The Gürtel and Kitchen cases concern alleged corruption and irregular financing networks in the Partido Popular.
