Former Puerto Rico House of Representatives Speaker José Aponte said the allegations by lawyer and analyst Eddie López about supposed conversations between Governor Jenniffer González Colón and Puerto Rico Supreme Court justices could "provoke the intrusion of one branch of government into another," in an interview with journalist Carmen Jovet on the program En Caliente, broadcast on NotiUno 630. "It is an extremely serious or extremely dangerous issue within what is the constitutional separation of powers," Aponte said.
It is an extremely serious or extremely dangerous issue within what is the constitutional separation of powers
He added that "there are entities that right now are trying to provoke controversies simply to destabilize." Aponte recounted that when he presided over the House, a resolution was brought to him to investigate the Supreme Court over the pensions case related to Pedro Rosselló, and that he decided not to file it. He said he spoke with the lead lawyer in that case, Harry Padilla, who replied: "José, if you file that, I resign from Pedro Rosselló’s defense."
On López, Aponte said he would like to hear "a formal" and detailed explanation. "I know him as a responsible professional and I believe he should clarify the situation before anything else can be entered into," he said. He also asked: "Are they trying to create doubt about the Supreme Court justices? About which ones?"
Lawyer Carla Anglero, former electoral commissioner of the Popular Democratic Party, said "justice must not only be independent, it has to be free of all suspicion of interference." She said accusations of this type are "extremely serious" and that López, as a lawyer, "knows the repercussions his expressions can have." She added that "it can be investigated through the legislative branches."