The French investigative outlet Mediapart has accused Jordan Bardella, now president of the National Rally party (RN), of making antisemitic statements in written messages when he was a young activist in the National Front in 2013, aged 17 to 18.
The investigation, published Monday, was firmly rejected by Bardella, who denied the claims attributed to him, called them crude forgeries and said he had instructed his lawyer to take legal action against the outlet.
After an investigation lasting several months and reviewing dozens of written conversations, which Mediapart says it was able to authenticate, the site claims Bardella was fully aligned with the views of the repeatedly convicted antisemitic activist Alain Soral.
According to the report, the messages included statements such as "all the banks are owned by Jews," "the Jew must dominate other peoples, crush them and steal from them," and that what they want is "a new world order dominated by Israel, with Jerusalem as the capital of course."
In another conversation from September 2013, when he was 18, the young activist reportedly targeted three ministers in Jean-Marc Ayrault's government: Laurent Fabius, Pierre Moscovici and Manuel Valls. In one message, he allegedly claimed that Moscovici, then economy minister, wanted to "save companies" in order to "avenge Moses."
In response to the outlet's inquiry before publication, Bardella categorically denied ever expressing himself in a racist or antisemitic manner. He stated: "The fact that I was not an active member of the National Front during the summer of 2013, and still a minor, should warn you about the false nature of these 'sources.'" After publication, he wrote on X that he "formally contests" the accusations, which attribute to him "delirious and antisemitic" remarks.
Marine Le Pen, the party's presidential candidate, said she had not read the article, but added that "it seems so insane to me that it can only be a forgery, a dirty trick that Mediapart specializes in."
A source close to Le Pen sharply criticized the outlet and its founder, Edwy Plenel.
