The meeting held by the Secretary General of the Presidency, Karina Milei, and the national senator Patricia Bullrich It occurred in the midst of one of the greatest political tensions that La Libertad Avanza went through, after the Government decided to withdraw the list of proposals from the Senate. Maria Veronica Michelli to serve as a federal judge. The meeting took place at the Casa Rosada and sought to contain an internal crisis that deepened when Bullrich decided to publicly differentiate himself from the position promoted by the president himself. Javier Milei and by the closest circle of libertarian political leadership.
The controversy began when the Executive Branch decided to withdraw the candidacy of Michelli, current secretary of the Federal Oral Court No. 1 of La Plata and candidate for the Federal Criminal Oral Court No. 3 of that city. The judge had gone through the corresponding selection process, had obtained a favorable opinion in the Senate Agreements Commission and was in a position to move towards eventual approval in the chamber. However, the Casa Rosada decided to stop her appointment after it emerged that she is the journalist’s sister-in-law. Hugo Alconada Monone of the main investigators of corruption cases that affect the national government, including the scandal of the cryptocurrency $Libra and different investigations into officials of the libertarian administration.
The decision generated a strong reaction from judicial sectors, lawyers’ associations, opposition blocs and even leaders of the ruling party itself. Incredibly, the most powerful focus of resistance emerged within the libertarian caucus itself in the Senate, headed by Bullrich. The legislator made her disagreement public and announced that she would not accompany the maneuver promoted by the Executive. In a message spread on social networks, he stated: “I spoke with the President and informed him that I am going to exercise my right to conscientious objection regarding the withdrawal of Dr. Michelli’s statement.” The phrase had a strong political impact because it constituted one of the first explicit differences between Bullrich and the hard core that surrounds Karina Milei.
The senator also confirmed that she continued to support the LLA political project, but maintained that she did not share the decision adopted in this particular case. According to what was later revealed, during the conversations with the President he even made available his resignation from the leadership of the ruling bloc in the Senate to prevent the conflict from escalating institutionally. However, Milei rejected that possibility and asked him to remain in office.
In this context, the meeting between Karina Milei and Bullrich took place. The objective was to try to lower internal tension and avoid a fracture in the ruling bloc just when the Senate was preparing to debate dozens of judicial appointments promoted by the Government. The concern of the Casa Rosada was that Bullrich’s rejection would end up dragging down other libertarian senators and allies, generating a political defeat for the Executive. The fears were not unfounded: several legislators began to express concerns about the presidential decision and some dialogue blocks announced that they would not support the withdrawal of the document.
This critical situation for the president’s sister was taken to the level of social networks by satirizing the meeting between the two iron women of La Libertad Avanza. In the sequence developed by IA, both the legislator and the official grab each other’s hair, literally, in a fight in Milei’s office in Casa Rosada.
Beyond the touch of virtual humor on social networks, Bullrich’s position was further strengthened when different sectors of the Senate interpreted that the withdrawal of the document should not be dealt with immediately. Finally, the parliamentary authorities decided not to put the presidential request to a vote and leave it in suspense, a decision that was read in the halls of Congress as a political triumph for the senator over the strategy promoted by the Casa Rosada. The possibility even began to gain strength that Michelli’s document could also advance if it obtains sufficient parliamentary support.
Meanwhile, Javier Milei came out for the first time to publicly defend the decision to withdraw the judge’s candidacy. The president shared on social networks a message from former judge Ricardo Manuel Rojas in which the constitutional power of the head of state to appoint and also to remove judicial candidates was vindicated. The text replicated by Milei maintained: “The person who appoints the judges is the President of the Republic. Just as he presents a document to the Senate, he can withdraw it.” He also stated that “no one has a right acquired before his formal appointment.” From the presidential environment they reinforced this line of argument and pointed out that the Constitution does not require the Executive to explain the reasons why it decides to withdraw a nomination.
The controversy took on an even greater dimension because the opposition, judicial organizations and lawyers’ associations interpreted that the decision could constitute indirect retaliation against the La Nación journalist. That reading was reinforced by the fact that Michelli’s candidacy had passed all the previous technical stages and that his relationship with Alconada Mon emerged as the main political explanation to justify the withdrawal of his nomination.
The episode exposed a power dispute that goes beyond the Michelli case. On the one hand, it showed the decisive influence of Karina Milei on the Government’s strategic decisions. On the other hand, it evidenced the growing political weight of Patricia Bullrich within La Libertad Avanza, to the point of becoming the main official leader who publicly challenged a determination supported by the President himself.
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