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Wife of Spain’s PM sues TV host for suggesting she is transsexual

Begoña Gómez, wife of Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has taken legal action against a right-wing TV programme that has peddled a conspiracy that she is transgender and involved in a Moroccan drug trafficking network.

Published: 2 March 2023 10:54 CET
Wife of Spain's PM sues TV host for suggesting she is transsexual
Begoña Gómez and her husband, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Photo: JAVIER SORIANO/AFP

Spain’s First Lady Begoña Gómez is suing a Spanish TV talkshow host for claiming that she is transsexual and also that she is involved in a drug trafficking ring in Morocco.

Pilar Baselga, a well-known figure on the right-wing Distrito TV channel, made the claims on the network’s ‘Los Intocables‘ (The Untouchables) programme in November 2022, and it has since been revealed that Gómez made a legal complaint against her before a Spanish court. Baselga could now face possible charges for ‘insults and slander’.

Gómez’s legal representation has also filed a complaint against the programme’s director and presenter, Eurico Campano, and the programme itself.

Distrito TV has reported stories based on hoaxes and conspiracies before. This hoax, in which they refer to Gómez as ‘Begoño’, deliberately using the masculine ending of her name, has made waves in Spain’s conspiracy-laden right-wing social media networks.

Speaking in November, Baselga stated: “Our dear first lady, well second lady because the first is the Queen… I dare say that there are suspicions that in the beginning it was ‘Begoño’. This wife of the President comes from a family with a tradition of gay saunas, it has to be said.”

Criticising Gómez’s position at the prestigious Universidad Complutense de Madrid, which Baselga implied she was given through her husband, Baselga then went on to make some startling claims about Gómez’s supposed role in a Moroccan drug smuggling gang: “Then she started working for a business institute with an Africa programme… and they have involved her in a drug trafficking issue in Morocco.”

“And apparently,” Baselga added, “the Moroccan secret service has evidence that Begoña Gómez is involved… would be involved in drug trafficking issues in Morocco,” according to Spanish daily El Diario.

Campano has since described Baselga’s statements as “absolutely regrettable” and Distrito TV requested that she make a video to clarify her remarks.

She responded with a statement that it had been “a mistake on my part to interpret information that is being spread on various Spanish social media networks.” She also stated that her words were “misinterpreted” and that “it has never been my intention to offend anyone, as transsexuality has been present in my family circle for almost 20 years.

Baselga even claimed that the response to her comments was transphobic because “it considers transsexuality a negative thing.”

These evasive apologies, which were no doubt made in an effort to avoid the legal action, made no mention of the claim about Moroccan drug smuggling.

Though it seems the original video has been deleted by Distrito TV, the following tweet thread compares at length what was said in the original broadcast and the apologies made a few days later.

Gómez’s legal representation is requesting a conciliatory meeting with Baselga and Campano, who are asked to “agree to acknowledge clearly and forcefully the spurious nature of their statements, and the falsehood of these messages aimed solely at harming” not only Gómez but Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez himself.

Gómez’s lawyers demand that the two conspiracists  make an apology “publicly and prominently using the same media in which the statements were made, or if there is not, another of a similar nature.”

Gómez’s team is also claiming compensation of €100,000.

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POLITICS

‘Pedro stay!’: Thousands of Spanish PM’s supporters take to the streets

Thousands of supporters of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez rallied at the headquarters of his Socialist party imploring him not to step down over a graft investigation against his wife.

Published: 27 April 2024 15:50 CEST
'Pedro stay!': Thousands of Spanish PM's supporters take to the streets

The 52-year-old, who has been in office since 2018, stunned Spain on Wednesday when he put his resignation on the line after a Madrid court opened a preliminary investigation into suspected influence peddling and corruption against his spouse Begona Gomez.

Sanchez said he would suspend all public duties until he announces his decision on Monday. The normally hyperactive premier has since remained out of sight and silent.

“I need to stop and think whether I should continue to head the government or whether I should give up this honour,” he wrote in a four-page letter posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Supporters on Saturday held up placards saying “Spain needs you”, “Pedro don’t abandon us’, and shouted slogans such as “Pedro leader”.

“I hope that Sanchez will say on Monday that he will stay,” said Sara Domínguez, a consultant in her 30’s, adding that his government had “taken good steps for women, the LGBT community and minorities”.

Jose María Diez, a 44-year-old government official who came from Valladolid in northern Spain to express his support, said there was a real possibility that the far-right could take power if Sanchez quit.

“This will mean a step backwards for our rights and liberties,” he warned.

Inside the party headquarters, there were similar passionate appeals.

‘Pedro stay’

“Pedro stay. We are together and together we can … take the country forward, Spain can’t step back,” said Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero, the government number two.

“Today all democrats, all progressives, are summoned to Madrid against a pack whose only aim is to overthrow a democratic and legitimate government,” said Felix Bolanos, Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations.

At one point, Socialist leaders took to the streets to thank those gathered. “They won’t succeed,” government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria told the crowd.

The court opened the investigation into Sanchez’s wife in response to a complaint from anti-corruption pressure group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), whose leader is linked to the far right.

The group, which has presented a litany of unsuccessful lawsuits against politicians in the past, said on Wednesday its complaint was based on media reports and could not vouch for their veracity.

While the court did not give details of the case, online news site El Confidencial said it focused on links Gomez had to Spanish tourism group Globalia when carrier Air Europa was in talks with the government to secure a huge bailout.

The airline sought the bailout after it was badly hit by plunging paseenger numbers during the Covid-19 crisis.

At the time, Gomez was running IE Africa Centre, a foundation linked to Madrid’s Instituto de Empresa (IE) business school, which had signed a sponsorship agreement with Globalia in 2020.

Spain’s public prosecutors office on Thursday requested the dismissal of the investigation, which Sanchez said was part of a campaign of “harassment” against him and his wife waged by “media heavily influenced by the right and far right”.

If Sanchez decides to remain in office, he could choose to file a confidence motion in parliament to show that he and his minority government are still supported by a majority of lawmakers.

If he resigns, an early election could be called from July — a year after the last one — with or without Sanchez at the helm of the Socialist party.

The right-wing opposition has accused the prime minister of being irresponsible for putting the country on hold while he mulls his decision.

“It’s very clear to us that this is all a tactic… We know Pedro Sanchez and things with him always turn out like a soap opera,” Cuca Gamarra, the number two of the main opposition conservative Popular Party, said on Friday.

“He is making us all wait and the country is at a standstill,” she added.

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