Members of Argentina’s opposition demanded the resignation of the Justice Minister after videos of him allegedly involved in influence peddling with U.S. conservative figure Timothy Ballard surfaced Tuesday on local media.

In the hidden-camera footage broadcast on TV channel C5N, Mariano Cúneo Libarona, the Argentine public official, is seen with Ballard offering him “meetings with judges” and to “get media attention” to clean up his image.

Ballard was expelled from the anti-sex trafficking organization he founded after several employees accused him of sexual misconduct.

Last April, Argentina’s security minister, Patricia Bullrich, had referred to Ballard as an “abuser” in an interview. Bullrich said that Ballard “has 23 cases of abuse against him, was expelled from all the anti-sex trafficking organizations he had been a part of,” and that he tried to meet with President Javier Milei, but she prevented it.

In the hidden camera footage, Cúneo Libarona offered Ballard to “get the media” to “change the misunderstanding in our country,” allegedly referring to Bullrich’s remarks. “I can get the media for you,” the justice minister said.

Ballard’s exploits were dramatized in the 2023 film “Sound of Freedom,” which was criticized for exaggerating his heroism and promoting far-right conspiracy theories. The justice minister told the U.S. disgraced activist that he wrote a bill inspired by the movie, which he said he would send over to Ballard’s “very intelligent lawyer.”

”This has to be a transnational issue, of crimes that occur in several countries,” Cúneo Libarona is seen saying. “So I’m writing a model. I’ll send you the draft so you can look at it, which is the draft that goes to the national congress. I’m working on it now, even these days.”

An impeachment request against Cúneo Libarona filed Wednesday by national congressman Esteban Paulón, from the Socialist Party, said that Ballard signed agreements with Argentine representatives. One example was whenBallard’s Aerial Recovery Foundation struck a deal with the Buenos Aires Attorney General’s Office, allowing him to take action in investigations in the province. The request said that Ballard is close to Milei and to Agustín Laje, one of the president’s “anti-woke” ideological mentors, and that the U.S. figure has participated in various Argentina Federal Police operations.

The request, signed by Paulón and by deputies Mónica Fein, Margarita Stolbizer and Mónica Selva, demands that Congress’s impeachment commission meet and investigate Cúneo Libarona over the crimes of influence peddling and negotiations incompatible with public office.

National deputy Maximiliano Ferraro, from the ARI party, posted on X that Cúneo Libarona “cannot remain in office for another minute.” 

He reminded that the minister was also arrested for covering up the AMIA bombing case and was the lawyer of former Tucumán governor José Alperovich in a sexual abuse case and for businessmen involved in a high-profile corruption case, and promoted “misogynistic and homophobic rhetoric.”

“Cúneo Libarona must resign, be removed by the President, or face impeachment,” Ferraro added.