Overview
- Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, chief of staff to Madrid president Isabel Díaz Ayuso, testified as an investigated party and denied receiving any police data, saying an angry neighbor sent him the reporters’ photo.
- The magistrate ordered the Police Judicial Unit to identify which National Police officers served on Ayuso’s escort on March 18–19, 2024 to clarify the chain of custody of the journalists’ details.
- The case centers on March 2024 events when a plainclothes officer asked two El País reporters to show ID near the home of Ayuso’s partner during reporting on alleged home works tied to a separate tax case.
- According to the complaint, Rodríguez later shared the reporters’ names and a photo in a journalists’ chat with a message accusing them of hassling neighbors, including minors.
- The PSOE filed the complaint in January 2025, the Madrid Provincial Court ordered the case admitted, and the judge is now taking initial statements from the reporters and witnesses as the inquiry continues.