“Gross manipulation”: RN opposes the “Additional Investigation” report on Jordan Bardella

The National Rally is up in arms against Thursday night’s broadcast of a “Further Inquiry” against its president, Jordan Bardella, denouncing “gross manipulation.” France Télévisions continues to air the show despite threats of legal action.

The report, entitled “Jordan Bardella: The Great Replacement”, based on four sources, including three anonymous ones, claims that the head of the RN list for Europeans would have used a Twitter account under a pseudonym from 2015 to 2017 to broadcast racist messages. , homophobic or insulting journalists.

Legal notice sent by the bailiff to France Télévisions

“This program should be renamed in addition to nothing, because they manage to make it out of nothing,” indignant MP and RN spokesman Julien Audul on the website franceinfo, condemning the “gross manipulation” aimed at “discrediting our list for Europeans.”

As soon as a teaser for the show was released on social media Wednesday evening, party spokesman Victor Chabert strongly disputed the attribution of the anonymous account to Jordan Bardella, who is leading in the polls for the June 9 election.

“You are broadcasting a false tweet without even using the conventions and without indicating (in the teaser, editor’s note) a refutation by Jordan Bardella, who formally denies being the author of these publications,” he wrote in a statement of harassment and sent a formal notice to “legal bailiff of France Télévisions.”

Victor Chabert told AFP that RN took these steps not to prevent the program from being broadcast, but rather to ensure that “the excerpt from the fake account was completely false.” For its part, France Télévisions told AFP it will continue to broadcast “Addition to the Investigation” on France 2 at 10:35 p.m. “It doesn’t change anything, it’s a classic,” we say within the group.

“@PSFort’s sources (Pierre-Stéphane Fort, the journalist who led the investigation, editor’s note) are categorical,” Tristan Valexx, the presenter of the investigative magazine, stressed for his part on X.

The report is dedicated to the young 28-year-old president of the RN, who has made a rapid political rise. He mentions a Twitter account he used under the pseudonym RepNat du Gaito, posting a photo of the Creteil swimming pool with the words “Black Sea”, hinting at the presence of many people of color in the pool.

“Misleading” editing, according to a participant in the report

Former RN member Eric Richermoz claims on camera that in the party, “many people and many young people had a Twitter account, a fake account as they called it, to joke around and be able to speak more freely.” , answering “yes” when a journalist asks him if Jordan Bardella had one.

But “the editing is misleading,” he added on X. “At no time did I make a connection between the account and the individual.” However, three anonymous sources cited in the report note that Mr. Bardella was hiding under the pseudonym RepNat du Gaito.

As for the former FN number 2 and now RN, Florian Philippot, who was interviewed in the investigative program, he assured AFP that he “cannot confirm” that Jordan Bardella was indeed hiding behind this profile.

On the other hand, he rejected the accusations of RN, which attributes Gaito’s RepNat account to one of his “former assistants.” “It’s a blatant lie that shows a certain amount of excitement.”