My name is Mariano Rajoy, as everyone knows, and then everyone calls me what they want

San Fernando de HenaresNine years after testifying in the Gürtel case, Mariano Rajoy has returned to the National High Court to testify in the Kitchen case. He arrived in San Fernando de Henares at 9:40 a.m. by car and entered the judicial premises through the parking lot. He responded for thirty minutes, in a statement that began with monosyllabic answers and evasions and ended with three pleas distancing himself from the facts and lending a hand to the defendants' defenses. The standout phrase came right at the start, during the questioning by the PSOE lawyer, who asked him if he was M. Rajoy, El Asturiano or El Barbés: "My name is Mariano Rajoy, as everyone knows, and after that each person calls me what they want, ask them".

After this first display of brilliance, he has dedicated himself to denying everything categorically. "Did you give Bárcenas an envelope with the remainder of the 'caja B'? Did you put the last page of Bárcenas's papers in the shredder? Do you have knowledge that Bárcenas was pressured or intimidated by order of party officials?", asked the PSOE lawyer. These are three questions that the former PP treasurerassured on Monday that he declared as a witness. "Absolutely false", Rajoy limited himself to answering on all three occasions.

Later, Podemos's lawyer asked him if he feared that Luis Bárcenas might have "compromising recordings" of him or someone from the party. Three days ago, the former PP treasurer said he had an audio of Rajoy and an audio of Javier Arenas, who had been second-in-command of the party under José María Aznar. "My peace of mind was total and absolute", Rajoy replied. "I don't think there were any. If there were, he would have made them public as he made many other documents public", he added.

Finally, he denied that there had been "any political operation" to spy on Bárcenas or steal information from him, but rather a "police operation" with the objective of "finding the money" and "finding out who his straw men were". But he was not aware: "Neither the minister, nor the Secretary of State, nor the President of the Spanish government is involved in police operations". And he is "convinced" that the police operation "fully complied with legality".

Cospedal asked Villarejo for help to know if the PP was being spied on

The other star of the day was María Dolores de Cospedal, who was the number two in the PP. She has acknowledged having had a dozen meetings with José Manuel Villarejo, which "were always at his initiative" and usually took place in her office on Génova street. She has denied having given him any "assignment" and said she asked him "questions." "It was my obligation to receive him and listen to him," she justified. What did they talk about? Despite the audios that prove how they pulled the strings within Operation Catalonia, she stated that they discussed "leaks" from a summary that were "detrimental" to Rita Barberá, who was the mayor of Valencia and a "very good friend" of hers, and about the "more than founded suspicion" that the PP had that they were "spied on, followed, or observed" by "someone who had to do with" the Ministry of the Interior, which at that time was led by Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba.

Beyond that, Cospedal has denied being informed of the alleged espionage against Luis Bárcenas or the recruitment of the party's former treasurer's driver, Sergio Ríos, as an informant. "It is not known to me, nor was it normal for it to be known to me. I had nothing to do with the Ministry of the Interior," she replied. "I even doubt that was the case," she went on to say at another point. On the other hand, she has presented former minister Jorge Fernández Díaz, the main defendant in the Kitchen case, as a "straight and upright" person who "has suffered a lot." And, in a way, she has taken the opportunity to make a self-correction for having associated with Villarejo: "If we all had a crystal ball, we would surely act differently. [...] In hindsight, things are different."

Once again, the two interrogations have been filled with interruptions from the president of the court, Teresa Palacios, to the questions of the PSOE lawyer. "Today I will protest everything," she warned when she had been questioning Mariano Rajoy for only a few minutes. And the judge became angry. Later, both also got into an argument while talking about Rita Barberá. "Unfortunately deceased. [...] Who was also part of the Gürtel," said Gloria de Pascual. "That comment is unnecessary from someone who is deceased," the magistrate reproached her.