SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico • A Puerto Rico judge issued search warrants for the cellphones of government officials involved in a crude online chat whose leak has set off a political crisis that threatens to bring down the U.S. territory’s governor.

One of the search warrants said that government officials used the chat to transmit official and confidential information to private citizens in potential violation of ethics laws.

Kelvin Carrasco, a spokesman for the island’s Justice Department, said Tuesday that the warrants were approved overnight and issued to those who had yet to turn over their phones. He did not identify the officials and would not comment further.

The possibility that some of the 12 men in the chat, including former and current government officials, could face legal trouble deepened the crisis around Gov. Ricardo Rosselló.

For the past week and a half, protesters have taken to the streets in Puerto Rico’s biggest wave of demonstrations in at least 15 years, demanding the governor step down in a furor set off by the release of an 889-page transcript showing Rosselló participating in an obscenity-laden chat with top advisers and at least one lobbyist.

“If the people want him to resign, his duty as governor is to resign because we’re the ones who choose,” said Alexander Ortiz, an 18-year-old university student from Gurabo.

The chat participants talked about politics and government contracts and also insulted women and mocked constituents, including victims of Hurricane Maria. Rosselló called a female politician a “whore,” referred to another as a “daughter of a bitch,” and made fun of an obese man with whom he posed in a photo.

Rosselló sounded a conciliatory note in a brief statement Tuesday.

“When one side speaks legitimately, the other has the responsibility to listen carefully,” he said. “The people are speaking and I have to listen. These have been moments of complete reflection and of taking decisions based on the concerns of the people of Puerto Rico and of their best interests.”

Rosselló said that from now on, he will talk only about government-related matters. Chat participants who said they either met with justice officials or turned over their cellphones as requested last week include Chief of Staff Ricardo Llerandi; a former legal adviser to the governor, Alfonso Orona; and former Public Affairs Secretary Ramón Rosario.

The leaked chat has intensified long-smoldering anger over government corruption and the severe debt crisis that has led to pension cuts and school closings.

Police arrest a demonstrator Monday night during clashes to demand the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rossello in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

the associated press