Speaking at a news conference in the Romanian capital Bucharest on Wednesday, Nawrocki said Poland’s ties with the United States were based on security, military cooperation and broader transatlantic interests, "rather than the travel status of a former minister" facing criminal allegations in Poland.
Ziobro, a former justice minister and current lawmaker for the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, said on Sunday that he was in the United States.
He denied fleeing Poland and said he was using a document granted to him in connection with international protection he received in Hungary.
Ziobro is a suspect in an investigation by the National Public Prosecutor's Office into the Justice Fund, a state program originally intended to help crime victims. Prosecutors accuse him of offenses including leading an organized criminal group while serving as justice minister.
He denies wrongdoing.
Asked in Bucharest whether Ziobro’s stay in the United States could harm Polish-American relations, Nawrocki said he could not imagine such an outcome.
Nawrocki said he hoped "no one in Poland would try to bring the matter into official Polish-American relations," calling such a potential move “irresponsible.”
He said the key issues between Warsaw and Washington included maintaining the number of US troops in Poland and Poland’s relationship with the G20 group of major economies.
The president called Ziobro "a private individual who left after filling out a form and found himself in the United States.” He described the matter as linked to Ziobro’s private life and his visa application.
Poland's National Public Prosecutor's Office said on Monday that it was taking steps to establish whether anyone helped Ziobro flee or avoid criminal liability, which could amount to obstructing the Justice Fund investigation.
National Public Prosecutor Dariusz Korneluk said prosecutors had decided to summon Tomasz Sakiewicz, the CEO and editor-in-chief of Polish conservative broadcaster TV Republika, as a witness.
Prosecutors want to determine why Ziobro became a "correspondent" for the station and whether that could be linked to assisting a suspect.
TV Republika reported that Ziobro would work as a political commentator for the station.
Poland’s lower house of parliament, the Sejm, lifted Ziobro’s parliamentary immunity on November 7, 2025, covering all 26 charges sought by prosecutors. It also approved his detention and possible arrest.
Prosecutors then ordered that he be detained and brought in by the Internal Security Agency (ABW), but the move failed because Ziobro was not in Poland.
Before traveling to the United States, Ziobro had been in Hungary, where he received international protection under Viktor Orbán’s government.
A change of government in Budapest added further pressure after Peter Magyar, sworn in as Hungary’s prime minister last Saturday, said during the campaign that PiS politicians remaining in Hungary could face extradition.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Wednesday that he would speak with the US ambassador to Warsaw, Tom Rose, after Poland asked Washington to explain how Ziobro entered the United States.
(rt/gs)
Sources: IAR, PAP