PiS chairman Kaczyński: no "dark horse" in presidential race yet

On Thursday, Kaczyński was asked if the date for announcing Law and Justice's presidential candidate had been set and if Przemysław Czarnek was the party’s "dark horse" in the race for the Presidential Palace.

"I don’t know if I have a dark horse or maybe a white one. Research is currently underway," Kaczyński replied. "I think in the second half of November, we will be able to satisfy your curiosity," he added.

During the Thursday press conference, PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński was also asked by TVN24 reporter Radomir Wit to comment on the findings of a report from the team investigating the work of the Smolensk subcommittee, led by Antoni Macierewicz.

On Friday, Deputy Minister of National Defense Cezary Tomczyk reported that a document concerning the subcommittee, along with 41 notifications involving Antoni Macierewicz and Mariusz Błaszczak, was submitted to the National Prosecutor’s Office.

Kaczyński was asked whether consequences would be drawn against Macierewicz, a PiS vice chairman, due to multiple irregularities identified in the report by experts.

"I refer here to the statement of the late Zbigniew Brzeziński, who argued that if the Chinese killed the U.S. president, the United States would still hide the truth about it. I think you are aware enough to understand the sense of my response," Kaczyński replied.

According to him, "the evidence is quite sufficient." "There was an explosion, so there was an attack," he declared. When pressed on the documentation supporting this, he replied, "not from documents, but from a completely visual situation."

"Are you denying that there were traces of explosions everywhere?" Kaczyński asked the TVN24 reporter. When the reporter noted that Americans who analyzed materials from the Smolensk disaster found no explosion, Kaczyński responded, "That’s what you claim; I have a completely different opinion on the matter."

The PiS chairman described the situation as "very sad." "I used an example that was not based on facts but rather on a hypothesis presented by Mr. Brzeziński, the advisor to the U.S. president. I am afraid that the same operational model was adopted in this case, with evidence similar to that referred to by Mr. Brzeziński,” Kaczyński assessed.

TVN24 journalist Piotr Świerczek, who has been investigating the Smolensk disaster for 14 years, dismantles Smolensk myths in his reports and exposes Antoni Macierewicz’s false claims regarding the circumstances of the presidential Tu-154 crash.

One of the questions directed at Kaczyński on Thursday concerned the scandal involving the Government Strategic Reserves Agency (RARS) and the deportation of Paweł S. to Poland. The creator and owner of the Red is Bad brand was located by Polish police in the Dominican Republic and was detained by local authorities last week.

"RARS was never under my jurisdiction. Not even when I was deputy prime minister, and certainly not now, as the party leader has no authority to control such matters," Kaczyński said, adding that "if this government changes, the case will be investigated under conditions of the rule of law."

"We are currently in a situation where there is no rule of law. Even the prime minister declares that we now have 'combative democracy,' which essentially rejects the rule of law," assessed the PiS chairman, adding that "in an unlawful state, you cannot determine anything in such matters."