After the interview in which Espert broke down on air, Grabois taunted him: "A little boy crying, who are you trying to fool?"

There's no respite for José Luis Espert, who this Saturday again offered explanations about his ties to Fred Machado. The complaint that initiated the investigation was filed by Juan Grabois , a Kirchnerist candidate for deputy, who once again lashed out at Espert : "One day you're a murderous gunman, and the next day you're a crying little boy. Who are you trying to fool?"

Amid the scandal surrounding Espert, who in addition to being a provincial deputy candidate for the Alianza La Libertad Avanza (ALLA) party is also the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies' Budget and Finance Committee, his accuser, Grabois, remains combative. This Saturday afternoon, just a short time after Espert gave a radio interview in which he appeared contrite, the Kirchnerist candidate tweeted harshly against his accuser.

"You, lying narco, playing the victim after harassing half the country, you don't inspire pity, you inspire disgust . I've never mentioned the name of a single member of your family, much less a daughter, like you did with Cristina's daughter because you're a rat with the ethics of a jackal ," Grabois began his post. Minutes earlier, the ruling party deputy had maintained in an interview with Radio Mitre that the accusations against him left him, as well as his family and close circle, "broken."

None of the emotion Espert shared during his interview seemed to have been believed by Grabois, who continued his attack: "We pulled off your mask, but you have the stone face to tell a different story every time. One day you're the killer gunman, and the next day you're a crying little boy . Who are you trying to fool?"

You, lying narco, playing the victim after harassing half the country, you don't inspire pity, you inspire disgust. I've never mentioned the name of a single member of your family, much less a daughter, like you did with Cristina's daughter because you're a rat with the ethics of a jackal. We'll get you out... pic.twitter.com/16LliYDgrO

— Juan Grabois (@JuanGrabois) October 4, 2025

"You hypocrite, you never shed a tear for all those who died because of the drug trafficking that finances you, you mocked the vulnerable, you denigrated pregnant women, you celebrated cruelty," he added.

And in the hours after the possibility of Espert withdrawing his legislative candidacy was considered, even within the ruling party (with ministers applying pressure and others publicly demanding explanations, such as Manuel Adorni, Patricia Bullrich, and Guillermo Francos), Grabois actually doubled down: he asked Espert to resign from his current deputyship, which expires in December, and which he is seeking renewal this time on the ALLA ticket.

"Now act like a dignified man for once in your life and stop tarnishing Argentina by clinging to a bench like you did to the common criminal you fled with on a motorcycle... because in addition to being a bad person, a boundless violent man, and a repulsive mercenary, you're a coward," the Kirchnerist leader concluded.

On Thursday night, amid controversy surrounding the investigation into his alleged ties to Fred Machado, Espert gave a television interview in which he evaded openly answering the question of whether he had received $200,000 from Machado. "What are we talking about? I'm not going to give Grabois the pleasure of making this the only campaign issue," Espert maintained.

A day later, he would acknowledge receiving that amount of money in a video released on Friday. " It was for a contract with a mining company linked to Fred Machado ," he said in a video he uploaded to the social network X, which he accompanied with the text: "Nothing to hide. We are not all the same."

Nothing to hide. We're not all the same. pic.twitter.com/zCF4vQW5iS

— José Luis Espert (@jlespert) October 3, 2025

" I may have been naive, but I was never a criminal ," he continued on Friday. He added: "Four years ago, they invented this dirty campaign that they're repeating today."

Grabois's complaint—who, like Espert, is a candidate for national deputy for the Province—is based on the 2019 accusations. He accompanied the motion with videos on his social media, in which he stated that it was based on his own investigations by his foundation Argentina Humana and by the current ultra-Kirchnerist deputy Rodolfo Tailhade, former head of Counterintelligence at the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI), an institution under the jurisdiction of the Executive Branch.