Competing accounts of a private meeting
At her press conference, in remarks reported by La Jornada, Sheinbaum described a tense exchange with Campos, a PAN politician. She said the governor raised allegations about Jáuregui's corruption and casinos, prompting the president to urge her to submit formal complaints and speak with federal Attorney General Ernestina Godoy. Campos subsequently met with Godoy.
According to Sheinbaum, the private conversation took place on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at Ciudad Juárez International Airport. The president was visiting Chihuahua during a tour of all 32 states to present her government report, and Campos had formally requested a meeting.
The discussion also addressed foreign agents' participation in an operation in Chihuahua. Sheinbaum said Campos objected to what she viewed as the president accusing her of treason. Sheinbaum said her remarks had concerned Chihuahua authorities allowing foreign agents to take part in operations in Mexico. She denied confronting Campos about the state authorities' actions complicating relations with the United States.
When responsibility for the agents' participation came up, Sheinbaum said Campos responded: "It wasn't me, it was the prosecutor." The president characterized their encounter as a meeting in their official capacities, not as friends. When Campos asked how they would work together afterward, Sheinbaum said the relationship would remain institutional, between the two levels of government.
Campos publicly challenged Sheinbaum's account on October 23. She said federal officials already knew she had been unaware of the CIA agents' presence and already possessed information about Jáuregui's alleged irregularities, leaving no need for her to bring those matters to their attention. She also called the treason charge against him disproportionate and characterized it as an accusation befitting a government from a fascist state.
Casino allegations prompt a new inquiry
Mexico's Attorney General's Office, known as the FGR, announced on October 23 that it had opened a new line of investigation into César Jáuregui Moreno over alleged corruption involving casinos and the use of front men, or prestanombres. The office attributed the inquiry to information Campos supplied at her meeting with Godoy.
Prosecutors did not specify their next investigative steps or say whether the allegations would result in formal charges. Separately, Godoy said the federal investigation into the case had involved more than 100 investigative actions. She accused Jáuregui of permitting foreign agents to operate without the required authorization.
Sheinbaum denied making any political pact with Campos to pursue Jáuregui, including a reported arrangement under which the governor would receive an ambassadorship in exchange for allowing legal action against her former aide. She said "justice is above even politics" and maintained that investigations are exclusively the responsibility of prosecutors' offices.
The operation and the cases against Jáuregui
The case stems from an April 2026 operation targeting a clandestine synthetic-drug laboratory in El Pinal, a community in Chihuahua's Morelos municipality. Two U.S. agents and two Chihuahua officials died in a vehicle accident afterward.
Jáuregui stepped down as Chihuahua's chief prosecutor on April 27, 2026. He acknowledged omissions in the institutional handling of the matter and in the information initially released about the foreign agents' presence.
Authorities arrested him in Chihuahua on October 17 in connection with CIA agents' involvement in the April operation. He obtained conditional release in the state case, but federal authorities then detained him and transferred him to Altiplano prison in the State of Mexico. He remains there in pretrial detention on a charge of treason, or traición a la patria.
In the state proceedings, a judge ruled on October 22 that Jáuregui would face trial for alleged illegal exercise of public service. The judge dismissed a separate charge of coalition of public servants.
A separate allegation against Morena's leader
Sheinbaum said Campos also alleged that Morena national president Ariadna Montiel had links to drug trafficking. The president said Campos offered no supporting evidence and urged her to submit proof.
Campos later acknowledged that she had not filed evidence or complaints against Montiel, while saying she intended to do so. She alleged that Montiel had been in contact with Sinaloa Cartel members since 2021 in municipalities including Guadalupe y Calvo and Morelos.
