Civic Coalition lost the 2019 parliamentary election, and Schetyna did not run for reelection for party leadership in 2020.
In the same phone call, Giertych also said he had suggested that the party promote Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, to which Tusk responded that it was a very good idea. Kidawa-Błońska ended up being the party’s candidate for prime minister in the 2019 election.
Furious response
Giertych alleges the conversation was recorded “as part of an illegal operation” through Israel’s Pegasus spyware, which the previous government allegedly used to spy on political opponents.
“The recording of conversations between a lawyer and his clients, the failure to destroy them, the removal of copies of the conversations from the [Central Anti-Corruption Bureau], their transfer to the media, and the publication of these conversations are very serious crimes,” Giertych wrote on X. “Those guilty of all these crimes will be punished.”
The current Civic Coalition-led coalition government has launched a probe into whether PiS officials misused Pegasus software to spy on their political opponents.
Tusk has not commented on the recordings as of Tuesday afternoon.