MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

'I committed no crime': Adorni weathers opposition pressure in Congress with full Milei's backing

The Cabinet Chief's defense centered on drawing a line between his personal assets and acts of government

Argentine Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni refused to resign on Wednesday during his first management report before the Chamber of Deputies, in a seven-hour session marked by allegations of alleged illicit enrichment against him and by the unprecedented presence of President Javier Milei in the chamber's gallery, alongside his sister and Secretary General of the Presidency Karina Milei, and the entire cabinet. “I committed no crime and I will prove it in court,” Adorni told the plenary, on a day the ruling party sought to turn into a political show of support and that the opposition transformed into a parallel trial.

The hearing, provided for in Article 101 of the Constitution, unfolded amid unusually high tension. The session included verbal exchanges by the president himself with left-wing lawmakers, whom he called “murderers” after Deputy Myriam Bregman questioned his government's alignment with Israel in the face of the offensive in Gaza. As he left the chamber, Milei called the journalists who approached him “thieves.” Adorni, for his part, read his entire address and stuck closely to the script prepared by his team, avoiding spontaneous exchanges that could complicate the government's strategy.

The Cabinet Chief's defense centered on drawing a line between his personal assets and acts of government. “I personally paid for all the trips I took with my family. They were not financed by third parties, nor were they gifts of any kind,” he said, without specifying the source of the funds. The judicial case led by federal judge Ariel Lijo and prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita is examining inconsistencies between Adorni's declared income — a monthly salary of around $2,500 until January — and the purchase of two apartments, a home in a gated community in Buenos Aires province, and trips to Aruba, Punta Cana, Cancun, and New York totaling more than $27,000. Press reports also detailed family debts totaling $335,000.

The opposition sought to corner him across multiple benches. Peronist Unión por la Patria caucus leader Germán Martínez warned that “today you do not have the confidence of Congress, of society, or of your cabinet” and announced that his coalition will push for a formal interpellation accompanied by a motion of censure, a mechanism established in Article 101 of the Constitution but never applied since its introduction in the 1994 reform. Deputy Bregman, from the Workers' Left Front, summed up the tone by recalling that “people call him Aloe vera because of all the properties they keep finding.” Adorni replied that the censure motion “would be the first time in history, and pushed by the bloc with the worst criminal record since the return of democracy.”

The session unfolded in parallel with a nationwide strike at all public universities and social mobilizations around the Congress building, against a backdrop of mounting pressure on the ruling party. Polls reflect a sustained deterioration: consultancy Zentrix recorded 60.6% disapproval of the Milei administration in April, while the regional CB Global Data ranking placed the Argentine president 14th among 18 Latin American leaders. The opposition plans to fold into the Adorni file two parallel investigations: the case involving the cryptocurrency $LIBRA, promoted by Milei on his social media accounts in February 2025, and allegations of bribery payments and price markups in the purchase of medicines for the National Disability Agency (Andis).