The NASK scandal and the ads attacking right-wing candidates? Rafał Trzaskowski “knows nothing about it.” In fact, he “didn’t see” the ads, and his people… “shared them because they had already appeared online.”
Today at 7:00 p.m., as previously announced, Sławomir Mentzen had a conversation with Rafał Trzaskowski, the Civic Coalition’s candidate.
Trzaskowski seems to have said goodbye to winning over the voters of Confederation, as he refused to sign Sławomir Mentzen’s declaration.
NASK vs. Trzaskowski Scandal
Not long ago, the NASK Center for Disinformation Analysis released a statement indicating that certain political ads running on Facebook in Poland — ads promoting Rafał Trzaskowski and attacking Karol Nawrocki and Sławomir Mentzen — were likely funded from abroad. The agency claimed that the entities behind these ads “spent more on political materials over the past week than any official election committee” and that these activities “appeared to support one candidate while discrediting others.” These hostile political ads are still running online.
A few days ago, this topic was brought up in the Polish parliament. And during his conversation with Trzaskowski, Sławomir Mentzen decided to bring it up. Below is the full exchange. The takeaway is clear — the “Vice-Tusk” denies having seen the ads or having any connection to them. But the Confederation politician pressed on, pointing to specific facts.
Mentzen: People broadly connected with the Civic Platform were behind online ads that supported one candidate — you, as it happens. And they viciously attacked people like me, spreading all sorts of lies. NASK said those ads actually harmed you, not anyone else…
Trzaskowski: Please ask NASK, ask the foundations, not me. My campaign team had nothing to do with campaigns encouraging people to vote. And that’s the end of that. Also, let’s not forget that it was the PiS government that changed the law, making it possible to spend money on election campaigns without consulting the candidate’s campaign team. We didn’t change that law — before, you couldn’t spend money promoting a candidate unless you were part of their official team. We stick to that rule strictly.
Mentzen: Just to be clear — these weren’t your campaign’s ads. They were ads from people broadly associated with Civic Platform, and they supported you.
Trzaskowski: Then ask them — I have nothing to do with it.
Mentzen: We both know that in the US, there are PACs — various NGOs funded by corporations — and similar things happen. What surprises me is that you claim those ads didn’t support you, when in your own book on PACs, you state clearly that such ads do support candidates.
Trzaskowski: Again — PiS changed the law, and now these things happen.
Mentzen: But can you at least admit that they supported you?
Trzaskowski: I haven’t even seen half of those ads. Can you tell me what was in them?
Mentzen: Some really nasty stuff.
Trzaskowski: They were ads encouraging people to vote.
Mentzen: No — they were ads claiming I’m connected to Russia, that I want bad things for people, while portraying you as extremely experienced, intelligent, capable, and smiling broadly.
Trzaskowski: Well, it’s true that I’m competent (?!). But again — ask those foundations, ask NASK. My campaign team has nothing to do with it.
Mentzen: So you won’t answer my question? I know your team isn’t behind it. But do you believe those ads didn’t support you?
Trzaskowski: I haven’t seen them.
Mentzen: Then how did Mr. Szłapka and Mr. Nitras publish those foundation ads a week before the foundations themselves did? Where did they get them from?
Trzaskowski: That’s been explained a thousand times. Don’t you ever share memes you find online?
Mentzen: No — this is actually from Wirtualna Polska.
Trzaskowski: Most of my friends, when they see something interesting online, they just share it.
Mentzen: A week before it appears anywhere else? These ads first showed up on your friends’ accounts and only later on the foundations’ pages.
Trzaskowski: That’s not true. They first appeared online, and then others shared them.
Mentzen: It was exactly the opposite. Let me explain: the ads promoted by these organizations — supported by Akcja Demokracja, whose president is Jakub Kocjan, a Civic Platform affiliate whom you awarded — were published a week after Szłapka and Nitras posted them.
Trzaskowski: But they appeared online earlier.
Mentzen: Not the ones I’m talking about. But I’m sure Demagog will check it — just like they did yesterday.