No pressure or orders not to investigate Pedro Sánchez's circle. The deputy operational director (DAO) of the Civil Guard, who is under investigation for prevarication and obstruction of justice within the framework of the Leire Díez case, defends himself before Judge Santiago Pedraz. A witness assured that in July 2024 he urged agents to "step aside" in judicial cases with political implications and urged them not to be proactive and to cede the protagonism of driving cases to the judges. But for more than two hours, he has denied any maneuver to torpedo the investigations: he assured that at no time did he say they should step aside and denied any kind of pressure.

The director of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González, met with Leire Díez, the main suspect in the latest judicial case affecting the PSOE, even though until now both she and the Spanish government had denied it both in writing – in response to parliamentary questions from the PP – and orally: last week the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, reiterated it, stating that "the director of the Civil Guard has not had any meeting with anyone [...] Not with Leire nor with anyone else". This account changed this Thursday, once the summary of the case being investigated by the National High Court became known. In a statement this Thursday evening, the Civil Guard itself acknowledges at least two meetings —it does not rule out a third— and assures that González cut off the relationship as soon as Díez asked her to reinstate Commander Rubén Villalba, who was removed from the force for being involved in a judicial proceeding.