A leaked uncut version of President Javier Milei’s Sunday interview about the ongoing $LIBRA scandal shows his principal advisor, Santiago Caputo, interrupting when the president was pressed about his personal responsibility and journalist Jonatan Viale acquiescing to changing tack.

The hour-long interview, the first since the memecoin scandal broke, aired on the news channel TN on Monday night. However, the channel allegedly posted an unedited version that showed the brief interruption on its YouTube channel by mistake. The clip has since been deleted, but it went viral on X around an hour after it was posted on YouTube.

The exchange with Viale was pre-recorded in Milei’s office in Casa Rosada, like almost all of the interviews he has given since taking office. The conversation centered mainly around the $LIBRA scandal, and while they touched on other subjects, near the end, Viale said he wanted to add one more question about it.

“I thought we agreed on the questions…” Milei joked in the leaked snippet, to which Viale showed the sheets of papers he was holding and replied: “Yes, these were written for me by [presidential spokesman Manuel] Adorni and [presidency secretary] Karina Milei, and these by [Santiago] Caputo.”

Viale asked Milei about the complaints filed against him in the judiciary and whether he or a state representative would appear in court. Milei answered that Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona would handle the legal strategy.

“But this is an issue in which you are involved as a citizen, not just as president,” Viale said, to which Milei replied: “It’s good that you are pointing out that I am a citizen because I posted from my personal account.” The president and his supporters contend Milei’s posting from his personal account — which has a gray verification badge that he uses to communicate public policy — rules out the use of his position for financial benefit, which is illegal.

Following further insistence from Viale that Milei is president, a male voice interrupted the conversation in the background. While unintelligible, Viale’s replies suggested the man was telling them to redo the question. Then, Caputo stepped into frame, part of his face and arm tattoo briefly visible, and whispered something in Milei’s ear.

“Yeah, I understand, I see you could have legal issues,” Viale said while Caputo returned to his spot behind the cameras. Then, they agreed to start the question from the start. “Ask about $LIBRA again, I don’t know,” Milei told the journalist. The edited version that aired on TN shows that Milei ended up answering that it was “an issue between private parties.”

“I don’t mess with legal issues because it is not my thing. That’s how things are,” Milei ended. They then quickly moved on.

You may also be interested in: $LIBRA: the timeline of a crypto scandal that’s rocking the Milei government

Damage control

“There was nothing wrong in what [Milei] was saying. Santiago Caputo has a flaw, so to speak, of seeking excellence, and noticed that it could cause confusion for some of the audience, and decided to interrupt the interview,” said Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni in an interview with A24. 

According to Adorni, when the interview ended, the president told Caputo his interruption “was not necessary.” He also claimed that Caputo “is not usually present during interviews” and could have been unaware that the presidential team “never interrupts an interview, under any circumstances.” He added that Milei “would never allow for scripted questions.”

The spokesman also said that the goal of Caputo’s interruption “was simply not to cause confusion regarding what the justice minister does” because Milei “is not into the fine juridical details.”

In a press conference on Tuesday noon, Adorni clarified that Cúneo Libarona will not provide Milei with legal assistance, something that exceeds his functions as minister. He added that Milei’s attorney has not been defined.

Viale gave an interview on Radio Rivadavia on Tuesday afternoon, denying claims that he was in the government’s pocket and that Caputo had called him to apologize. He also said he would “vent” on TN later in the evening.

“I didn’t react the way I should have. It was a huge slap in the face, but I’m never going to stop journalism, they can keep sucking it,” he said.