The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was questioned again this Friday about the controversial statements he made in the presence of foreign journalists, which were made public today.

In Lisbon, Marcelo was confronted by journalists, who questioned him about an alleged "Machiavellian attitude" by Lucília Gago. "I never mentioned the Attorney General of the Republic", he said, denying having used the expression "Machiavellian attitude", or similar, in relation to the official.

"I spoke about myself in the context of the proceedings and explained why I would not comment on the proceedings", he said.

The issue at hand is Marcelo's statements, in which he said that “António Costa was slow, because he is oriental". "Montenegro is not oriental, but he is slow, he has the pace of the rural country, although urbanised. It reminds me of the old PSD, which was like that. The PS was Lisbon, the greater Lisbon area, the metropolitan areas, and the PSD was the rest of the country, especially the North and the Centre-North”, he compared.

Later in the afternoon, the second time he was confronted by journalists about the matter, Marcelo once again explained the reason why he spoke about "rural" issues. "The deep-rooted Social Democratic Party - unlike the Socialist Party, which was born in Lisbon and spread to the rest of the country - was the PSD of the rural country. That PSD had rural roots. To explain what it was like, that it was not the Lisbon political style", he said, repeating the idea he had first defended that afternoon.

In the afternoon, Marcelo pointed out that the statements he made should not be considered "offensive in any way".

In addition to these controversies, Marcelo was also questioned in the afternoon about his relationship with his son, confirming that he has cut off ties with him - after the Caso Gémeas, in which two Portuguese-Brazilian sisters were treated at Hospital Santa Maria, receiving a million-euro medication. The suspicions of favouritism arose from an email sent by Nuno Rebelo de Sousa to his father, talking about the matter.

Marcelo says that he does not speak to his son not only about that issue, but "in general". "I don't speak to him, period", he assured. "I feel a lot of personal pain, but I was not the one who caused that pain", he added.

The estrangement between the two had also been revealed to foreign journalists on Tuesday.

Leia Também: Declarações sobre Montenegro foram ofensivas? "De maneira nenhuma" (Portuguese version)