“What would I be guilty of?” : accused of anti-Semitic writings, Bardella maintains his denial and refuses to “plead the error of youth”

Could he adopt another line of defense than the one held since the affair broke out? Ten days after Mediapart attributed to Jordan Bardella a whole series of anti-Semitic writings dating from 2013, and for which the online newspaper put forward its evidence, the strategy of the president of the National Rally (RN) does not move one iota. That of formal denial. A denial repeated on each occasion, like this Thursday evening on LCI, where he gave his first interview since the one given to CNews on the evening of the revelations.

Faced with Darius Rochebin, the thirty-year-old again “formally contested the accusations and the vile remarks” reported by the site co-founded by Edwy Plenel, as well as its investigation methods and its sources. Anti-Semitic and conspiratorial remarks that he repeats that he has “never made”, ensuring that he has “no lessons to learn in the fight against anti-Semitism” – especially from Mediapart – a fight that he promises to “always” lead.

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If the defense may seem rigid, it is coupled with a counterattack. After a defamation complaint against Mediapart, a second, for “forgery and use of forgery”, is in preparation, announces Jordan Bardella. According to him, the site “lied”, since the authentication of the conversations by a bailiff, presented as acquired during publication, did not take place until the next day. Criticizing “barbouze methods” and “disturbing timing” six and a half months before the presidential election, he rules out any avenue of internal leak from the RN. Not outside: “We exclude nothing”.

The fact remains that behind the scenes, at the RN and elsewhere, several voices deplore that the president of the RN has not taken responsibility for his possible teenage mistakes. “Sorry, but I am not going to plead youthful error for positions that are not mine,” replies Marine Le Pen’s heir apparent, even if it means depriving himself of an option that could perhaps have closed the question. Under the insistence of his interlocutor, he persists: “You present to me comments and positions which are not mine and which are not mine. So what would I be guilty of? Sorry, we are in a democracy, in a state of law. We have judicial institutions to defend ourselves, there is criminal law, press law.”

And to call for more “principles” and “a little normality in the functioning of institutions” in the face of “generalized hysteria”, fueled according to him by the press, which would suggest that he is “a criminal and a serial murderer”. “We will have to calm down now and agree to talk about France, to talk about subjects that concern our compatriots,” he concluded, as if trying to get rid of this cumbersome file as quickly as possible.