Latest news with #BecomingBrigitte
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Shocking story of how Emmanuel Macron's parents discovered his secret affair with 40-year-old teacher
Defamation on Emmanuel Macron 's wife Brigitte has circulated on social media for years now. The French first lady has been targeted on social media with the false claims that she was born male under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux. She has also been attacked over the age difference with Macron. Brigitte Macron had filed a libel complaint against two women after they posted a YouTube video in December 2021, alleging she had once been a man named Jean-Michel. Two women, Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey, convicted of defaming French first lady by saying she was 'born a man' have been cleared on charges. A Paris Appeal Court recently ruled that the clairvoyant and blogger had 'every right' to make the allegation and this has further fuelled speculation about Emmanuel Macron's wife. A controversial book named 'Becoming Brigitte,' published by journalist Xavier Poussard, has also become the breeding ground for conspiracy theories. American commentator Candace Owens also posted on X, 'It was never defamation. It was a witch hunt. Legally speaking, the only proof Brigitte Macron is a woman is her word that she is. There is tons of proof however, that she lived as a man before 'becoming Brigitte'. ALSO READ: 'Words I never expected...': Elmo's X account goes rogue with offensive messages, sends netizens into frenzy Who is Brigitte Macron? Brigitte Macron dominated headlines across the globe in May after she allegedly appeared to push the French President in the face as the couple arrived in Vietnam for the start of a Southeast Asia tour. In the video that went viral on social media, Brigitte appeared to purportedly shove her husband, before he descended from the presidential plane. Live Events An Elysee official played down the moment, denying it showed an argument between the couple: "It was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing one last time before the start of the trip by having a laugh." Brigitte, whose maiden name is Trogneux, met her now-husband when he was a student at Le Providence, a Catholic school in France, where she worked as a drama teacher. When they met, Brigitte was 39 and Macron was 15. Brigitte was married to banker André-Louis Auzière, and the couple share three children, Sébastien, Laurence and Tiphaine. Macron began dating Brigitte, who is 24 years his senior, when he was 16, reports The Independent. ALSO READ: White House under fire for bizarre 'Superman Trump' image, Internet says 'delete this, it's cringe' Why was Macron dropped from school? Writer Anne Fulda, who penned the book 'Emmanuel Macron: A Perfect Young Man', spoke to the politician's parents about the scandalous affair that began while Trogneux was a 39-year-old married mother-of-three. Macron's parents believed their son was dating the teacher's daughter, Laurence. The truth was revealed through a family friend which shook them by surprise. The Macrons decided to remove their son from school but he and Brigette kept in touch while he was in college, the outlet reported. His mother, Francoise Nogues-Macron, told Ms Fulda: 'We just couldn't believe it. What is clear is that when Emmanuel met Brigitte, we couldn't just say, 'That's great'.' But she added: 'What mattered to me was not the fact he was having a relationship with Brigitte but that he was alive and there weren't any problems.' ALSO READ: Kristi Noem to be investigated over her FEMA's response to devastating Texas floods? Why Trump aide is facing backlash Realising the affair would not be a passing phase, she is said to have told the teacher: 'Don't you see? You've had your life. But he won't have children with you.' Macron's father, Jean-Michel Macron, revealed he 'almost fell off his chair' when he learned about his son's lover: 'When Emmanuel met Brigitte, we certainly did not say, 'How wonderful!' The shaken parents met Trogneux and asked her not to see their son again until he reached adulthood, but she defiantly told them she couldn't 'promise anything'. Macron and Brigitte eventually married in 2007 when he was 29 and she was 54. The new First Lady of France confirmed to Paris Match magazine last year that a determinedly romantic Macron had vowed to marry her when he was just 17 years old, promising to come back and find her after he was sent to the capital. ALSO READ: Trump's State department firing begins: Over 1,300 jobs slashed in latest layoff wave 'You cannot get rid of me. I will come back and marry you,' he is quoted as having said. Becoming a stepfather to her three adult children, he told them at the wedding reception: 'Thanks for accepting us, a not-quite-normal couple.' The French President previously called his wife his 'anchor', saying she kept him focused in his job. In an interview with CNN, Macron said: 'For me, it's very important for my personal balance to have somebody at home telling you the truth every day. 'Access to truth is one of the main challenges. Somebody with her deep convictions and knowing you for what you are and loving you for what you are, not for what you represent or your role or your honours. That is very important to me.' In an interview with Elle magazine, Brigitte said she and her husband are 'just like any other couple'. She said: 'We agree, we disagree. We argue, we stop arguing. It's very fluid.'
Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Bridgitte Macron row: French First Lady 'born a man' theories surface, Paris court acquits two 'conspiracy theorists'
Two women who were previously convicted of defaming French First Lady Brigitte Macron by claiming she was 'born a man' have been found not guilty on appeal. Amandine Roy, 53, and Natacha Rey, 49, a blogger, were cleared of the charges as the judges of the Paris Appeal Court on Thursday ruled that they had every right to make those allegations, as reported by the Daily Mail. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now They were subjected to 'intimidation by the authorities' as 'ultra protected' members of the authority tried to cover up a 'state secret.' Roy and Rey had appeared on a 4-hour-long YouTube video in December 2021, where they claimed that Brigitte was born a boy with the name Jean-Michel Trogneux. Brigitte Macron, 72, whose maiden name is Trogneux, has a brother called Jean-Michel. The defendants also asserted that Brigitte's first husband, André-Louis Auzière, did not actually exist before his reported death in 2020 at age 68. Macron had sued both women in January 2022 for defamation. In September last year, a lower court ordered the two women to pay €8,000 in damages to Brigitte Macron and an additional €5,000 (around $5,500) to her brother, as reported by France 24. Today's court ruling declared that the 18 passages from the video in question 'do not constitute defamation' but rather fall under 'good faith' free speech. The defendants no longer have to pay anything and can instead reiterate their allegations against Macron. Macron's lawyers informed that she was 'devastated' by the ruling and will now move to France's Cassation Court. This comes amid Brigitte Macron finds herself under attack not just in France but across the world. A controversial book named 'Becoming Brigitte,' published by journalist Xavier Poussard, is becoming the breeding ground for conspiracy theories. American commentator Candace Owens also posted on X, 'It was never defamation. It was a witch hunt. Legally speaking, the only proof Brigitte Macron is a woman is her word that she is. There is tons of proof however, that she lived as a man before 'becoming Brigitte'.' The ruling came as four male defendants face a cyber-harassment trial at the Paris Correctional Court, accused of comparing Bridgitte Macron to a child abuser.
Extra.ie
6 days ago
- Politics
- Extra.ie
Brigitte Macron's accusers free to say what they like after appeal court ruling
Two women who had been convicted of defaming the French first lady Brigitte Macron by saying she was 'born a man' were today cleared on appeal. Judges at the Appeal Court in Paris have today ruled that Amandine Roy, who is a 53-year-old clairvoyant, and Natacha Rey, who is 49 and a blogger, had every legal right to make the false allegations. Both women claimed to have been subjected to 'intimidation' by the French authorities and accused 'ultra protected' members of the Paris establishment of trying to cover up a 'state secret'. Brigitte Macron. Pic:Lawyers for Brigitte Macron, who is 72, have indicated that the French First Lady is 'devastated' by the development, and plans to take the case to France's Cassation Court which deals with civil and criminal cases and is the highest court in the land. Ms Macron is currently returning from a State Visit to Britain with her husband, President Emmanuel Macron and was not in court to hear today's judgement. The two women who made the claims had appeared in a Youtube video back in 2021, in which they falsely claimed that Brigitte was in fact born a male, called 'Jean-Michel Trogneax' in 1953, but this is the name of Brigitte's brother, and Trogneux was her surname before her first marriage. French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron. Pic: Chesnot/Getty Images The defendants also claimed that Brigitte's first husband, André-Louis Auzière, had never actually existed. Earlier this year, a Judge in Normandy fined the two women around €1,900 euros each, after finding them both guilty of libel, but now they won't have to pay anything and are free to repeat their allegations against Ms Macron. The two women had been sued by Ms Macron in 2022, but were not in court today to hear the judgement which ruled that the assertions made in the video 'do not constitute defamation' and instead represent 'good faith' free speech. It comes as Brigitte Macron finds herself increasingly under attack, not just in France, but right across the globe, with several influencers like American Candace Owen also stirring up outlandish conspiracy theories about the French first lady. Brigitte Macron. Pic: Chesnot/Getty Images 'Becoming Brigitte', a controversial book about her personal life written by journalist Xavier Poussard, is also said to be stirring up conspiracy theories about her. Ms Macron is currently finishing up a State Visit to the UK along with her husband President Emmanuel Macron, despite being in mourning due to the sudden death of her older sister Anne-Marie Trogneux less than a week ago. A spokesperson for the First Lady said 'Madame Macron adored her sister, and the loss has affected her greatly, but she agreed it was her duty to be in the UK alongside her husband, despite it coinciding with a period of mourning'.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The absurd Brigitte Macron conspiracy theory roiling America
Relations between France and America might be about to get even frostier. Right-wing US commentators have reignited an absurd rumour about Brigitte Macron, wife of French president Emmanuel Macron: namely, that she was actually born male and has been hiding her transgender status from the world. The most prominent proponents of this outlandish conspiracy theory are two Trump-supporting, conservative voices: Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, who supercharged the gossip after claiming it was true in a video posted on YouTube last week. For her part, rising social media star Owens first latched onto the scurrilous rumour a year ago, posting a video to her YouTube channel pithily titled 'Is France's first lady a man?' Promoting it on X (formerly Twitter), Owens wrote: 'Stop everything and watch this! Not a joke or an exaggeration to say that barring political assassinations, this is likely the biggest scandal that has ever happened in politics in human history.' Since then, the story has become a popular topic in the corners of the internet frequented by followers of Donald Trump's Maga movement. In her March 2024 video (since deleted), Owens referred to the likely original source of the salacious story: a 2021 article in Right-wing French journal Faits et Documents, which made the jaw-dropping claim that Brigitte, 71, and her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux were actually the same person. The story posited that Jean-Michel doesn't actually exist: Brigitte herself was born Jean-Michel, then transitioned from male to female at the age of 30. 'I would stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man,' announced Owens in a follow-up post on X. 'Any journalist or publication that is trying to dismiss this plausibility is immediately identifiable as establishment.' She added: 'The implications here are terrifying.' The video, in Owens's words, 'blew up', which perhaps explains why this became her pet topic. She has since treated her 4.07 million YouTube subscribers to numerous posts about the French first lady, including a multi-part video series called Becoming Brigitte. Owens is undeterred by criticism of her campaign, including from Piers Morgan. On his show in June 2024, the broadcaster – who called her claims 'very offensive, very wrong' – bet Owens $100,000 (to be donated to charity) that Mrs Macron is in fact a woman. Then in a January 2025 video titled 'I Got A Legal Threat From A Sitting President…', Owens reveals that she was contacted by a law firm representing the Macrons themselves. She shares a section of that letter which reads: 'This disinformation campaign is almost entirely based on a negative – Mrs Macron has not provided definitive proof that she is a woman; therefore, she must be a man.' The letter argues that Mrs Macron does not owe Owens proof – 'frankly, it is none of your business' – and claims that Owens is being 'defamatory'. But getting the attention of France's first family has only fuelled Owens's campaign. In February, she posted a video interview with French journalist Xavier Poussard, editor of Faits et Documents and author of the book Devenir Brigitte, or Becoming Brigitte (which subsequently shot to the top of the Amazon charts). That video has clocked up 1.7 million views. It's exactly the outcome Poussard was hoping for, according to Emmanuelle Anizon, a journalist at French weekly Le Nouvel Obs and the author of a book about the conspiracy, called L'affaire Madame – Anatomie d'une fake news, or The Madame Affair – Anatomy of Fake News. She told Agence France-Presse last year that Poussard started translating his Macron articles into English in 2023 and sent them to associates of Trump. It was his dream, Anizon added, 'to export this rumour across the Atlantic'. The theory had initially just been a home-grown obsession. Self-described journalist Natacha Rey amplified the Faits et Documents story via a four-hour YouTube video in December 2021 in which she was interviewed by spiritual medium Amandine Roy, and called Mrs Macron's identity a 'state lie'. She claimed that Mrs Macron's first husband, André-Louis Auzière, never actually existed, and that Auzière's uncle had forged documents to hide the fact that his own wife had given birth to Macron's three children. The video went viral in the build-up to France's 2022 presidential election, garnering half a million views before YouTube removed it for violating its guidelines around 'fake news'. But the genie was out of the bottle. The hashtag #JeanMichelTrogneux, which referred to Macron's alleged real male name, was trending on X, then Twitter, in France in the days after the video was posted. In total, it was used on the platform more than 66,000 times while being spread by accounts including those administered by anti-vaccine groups and followers of the QAnon conspiracy movement – which states the world is run by a cabal of cannibalistic paedophiles. The Macrons fought back. Speaking at an event in Paris in March 2024, the French president said of the rumour: 'The worst thing is the false information and fabricated scenarios. People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your intimacy.' Also in March, Mrs Macron's daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, told broadcaster BFMTV that the rumours were 'grotesque', and 'a form of harassment'. The first lady filed a successful libel complaint against Roy and Rey, and in September 2024 the defendants were ordered to pay her the equivalent of £6,750 in damages, as well as £4,205 to her brother Jean-Michel. Macron's lawyer Jean Ennochi commented: 'The prejudice is massive, it exploded everywhere.' However, that spirited public defence has, ironically, kept the story alive. Owens first heard of it thanks to an article about Macron's furious response. Now the powerful American commentator Tucker Carlson has picked up the baton. In a YouTube video posted last week, Carlson backed up the claim made by 'my friend Candace Owens'. He says he had initially dismissed the rumour as a 'flat Earth' conspiracy. 'Then it turns out she's right – my mind is blown!' declares Carlson, offering no justification for this assertion. Russian state media is also picking up Owens's coverage – to her evident pride, as demonstrated in a video in which she watches herself in a Russian TV report. 'I didn't realise how amazing my name sounds in a Russian accent,' she remarks. For others, meanwhile, the 'truth' is even stranger still. Owens fan Gabby Garcia took to TikTok last month with a bizarre Oedipal plot twist. She claimed that the president isn't just married to a trans woman – Mrs Macron is actually his own father. 'I know that it sounds insane,' says Garcia, in arguably the understatement of the year. 'My brain is melting.' She's not alone. But how on earth did this absurd accusation gain global traction? Sander van der Linden, professor of social psychology in society at the University of Cambridge, points out that we live in an increasingly fragmented media environment. 'We don't have central dissemination of news. Instead people are in tiny echo chambers, slavishly trusting their chosen sources of information. It's hard for us to share the same reality. Those are ideal conditions for conspiracy theories to thrive. Even if people don't fully believe in a rumour, they might share it as a symbol of their beliefs or the political group they support.' Joseph Uscinski, professor of political science at the University of Miami, observes that the likes of Owens and Tucker have 'a built-in, conspiracy-minded audience. Those viewers didn't slip on a banana peel and end up here: they specifically chose a channel outside of the mainstream media. The broadcasters then have to provide the content they desire. The Macron story is ideal fodder. It feeds into their existing biases, plus it's outrageous and fun.' Such audiences might not even know who Brigitte Macron is, but this conspiracy relates to a larger narrative, explains van der Linden. 'It's a combination of evil elites hiding stuff from us and not being who they say they are, and suspicion of trans people and gender ideology. It's a more palatable version of the conspiracy that powerful leaders are actually lizards – that's a bridge too far for most people.' Indeed, Owens often ticks off other culture war topics in her Macron videos, such as anti-vax sentiments. The Macron transgender accusation is clearly recycled, says van der Linden. 'The exact same story was peddled about Michelle Obama and Jacinda Ardern.' But even if it's patently nonsense, the fact that many current world leaders, 'especially Trump and his allies', are engaging in conspiracy theory rhetoric means that it's harder to outright dismiss it, says Uscinski. 'Tucker and Candace are piggybacking on Trump.' That points to the deadly serious part of this otherwise ludicrous saga. Relations between France and America are already much troubled, with one French politician, Raphaël Glucksmann, even claiming this week that the country should take back the Statue of Liberty after what he characterised as President Trump deciding to 'side with the tyrants' in the war on Ukraine. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt fired back, saying that if it weren't for her country the French would be 'speaking German right now'. It's not inconceivable that if the rumour becomes associated with supporters of Trump, the issue could add further strain to an already tricky relationship between the US president and his French counterpart. Such an outcome would certainly be welcome in Moscow, says van der Linden. 'Russia's goal is to stoke division and chaos,' he warns. Unsubstantiated rumours, after all, can often have very real consequences. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The absurd Brigitte Macron conspiracy theory sweeping America
Relations between France and America might be about to get even frostier. Right-wing US commentators have reignited an absurd rumour about Brigitte Macron, wife of French president Emmanuel Macron: namely, that she was actually born male and has been hiding her transgender status from the world. The most prominent proponents of this outlandish conspiracy theory are two Trump-supporting, conservative voices: Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, who supercharged the gossip after claiming it was true in a video posted on YouTube last week. For her part, rising social media star Owens first latched onto the scurrilous rumour a year ago, posting a video to her YouTube channel pithily titled 'Is France's first lady a man?' Promoting it on X (formerly Twitter), Owens wrote: 'Stop everything and watch this! Not a joke or an exaggeration to say that barring political assassinations, this is likely the biggest scandal that has ever happened in politics in human history.' Since then, the story has become a popular topic in the corners of the internet frequented by followers of Donald Trump's Maga movement. In her March 2024 video (since deleted), Owens referred to the likely original source of the salacious story: a 2021 article in Right-wing French journal Faits et Documents, which made the jaw-dropping claim that Brigitte, 71, and her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux were actually the same person. The story posited that Jean-Michel doesn't actually exist: Brigitte herself was born Jean-Michel, then transitioned from male to female at the age of 30. 'I would stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man,' announced Owens in a follow-up post on X. 'Any journalist or publication that is trying to dismiss this plausibility is immediately identifiable as establishment.' She added: 'The implications here are terrifying.' The video, in Owens's words, 'blew up', which perhaps explains why this became her pet topic. She has since treated her 4.07 million YouTube subscribers to numerous posts about the French first lady, including a multi-part video series called Becoming Brigitte. Owens is undeterred by criticism of her campaign, including from Piers Morgan. On his show in June 2024, the broadcaster – who called her claims 'very offensive, very wrong' – bet Owens $100,000 (to be donated to charity) that Mrs Macron is in fact a woman. Then in a January 2025 video titled 'I Got A Legal Threat From A Sitting President…', Owens reveals that she was contacted by a law firm representing the Macrons themselves. She shares a section of that letter which reads: 'This disinformation campaign is almost entirely based on a negative – Mrs Macron has not provided definitive proof that she is a woman; therefore, she must be a man.' The letter argues that Mrs Macron does not owe Owens proof – 'frankly, it is none of your business' – and claims that Owens is being 'defamatory'. But getting the attention of France's first family has only fuelled Owens's campaign. In February, she posted a video interview with French journalist Xavier Poussard, editor of Faits et Documents and author of the book Devenir Brigitte, or Becoming Brigitte (which subsequently shot to the top of the Amazon charts). That video has clocked up 1.7 million views. It's exactly the outcome Poussard was hoping for, according to Emmanuelle Anizon, a journalist at French weekly Le Nouvel Obs and the author of a book about the conspiracy, called L'affaire Madame – Anatomie d'une fake new s, or The Madame Affair – Anatomy of Fake News. She told Agence France-Presse last year that Poussard started translating his Macron articles into English in 2023 and sent them to associates of Trump. It was his dream, Anizon added, 'to export this rumour across the Atlantic'. The theory had initially just been a home-grown obsession. Self-described journalist Natacha Rey amplified the Faits et Documents story via a four-hour YouTube video in December 2021 in which she was interviewed by spiritual medium Amandine Roy, and called Mrs Macron's identity a 'state lie'. She claimed that Mrs Macron's first husband, André-Louis Auzière, never actually existed, and that Auzière's uncle had forged documents to hide the fact that his own wife had given birth to Macron's three children. The video went viral in the build-up to France's 2022 presidential election, garnering half a million views before YouTube removed it for violating its guidelines around 'fake news'. But the genie was out of the bottle. The hashtag #JeanMichelTrogneux, which referred to Macron's alleged real male name, was trending on X, then Twitter, in France in the days after the video was posted. In total, it was used on the platform more than 66,000 times while being spread by accounts including those administered by anti-vaccine groups and followers of the QAnon conspiracy movement – which states the world is run by a cabal of cannibalistic paedophiles. The Macrons fought back. Speaking at an event in Paris in March 2024, the French president said of the rumour: 'The worst thing is the false information and fabricated scenarios. People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your intimacy.' Also in March, Mrs Macron's daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, told broadcaster BFMTV that the rumours were 'grotesque', and 'a form of harassment'. The first lady filed a successful libel complaint against Roy and Rey, and in September 2024 the defendants were ordered to pay her the equivalent of £6,750 in damages, as well as £4,205 to her brother Jean-Michel. Macron's lawyer Jean Ennochi commented: 'The prejudice is massive, it exploded everywhere.' However, that spirited public defence has, ironically, kept the story alive. Owens first heard of it thanks to an article about Macron's furious response. Now the powerful American commentator Tucker Carlson has picked up the baton. In a YouTube video posted last week, Carlson backed up the claim made by 'my friend Candace Owens'. He says he had initially dismissed the rumour as a 'flat Earth' conspiracy. 'Then it turns out she's right – my mind is blown!' declares Carlson, offering no justification for this assertion. Russian state media is also picking up Owens's coverage – to her evident pride, as demonstrated in a video in which she watches herself in a Russian TV report. 'I didn't realise how amazing my name sounds in a Russian accent,' she remarks. For others, meanwhile, the 'truth' is even stranger still. Owens fan Gabby Garcia took to TikTok last month with a bizarre Oedipal plot twist. She claimed that the president isn't just married to a trans woman – Mrs Macron is actually his own father. 'I know that it sounds insane,' says Garcia, in arguably the understatement of the year. 'My brain is melting.' She's not alone. But how on earth did this absurd accusation gain global traction? Sander van der Linden, professor of social psychology in society at the University of Cambridge, points out that we live in an increasingly fragmented media environment. 'We don't have central dissemination of news. Instead people are in tiny echo chambers, slavishly trusting their chosen sources of information. It's hard for us to share the same reality. Those are ideal conditions for conspiracy theories to thrive. Even if people don't fully believe in a rumour, they might share it as a symbol of their beliefs or the political group they support.' Joseph Uscinski, professor of political science at the University of Miami, observes that the likes of Owens and Tucker have 'a built-in, conspiracy-minded audience. Those viewers didn't slip on a banana peel and end up here: they specifically chose a channel outside of the mainstream media. The broadcasters then have to provide the content they desire. The Macron story is ideal fodder. It feeds into their existing biases, plus it's outrageous and fun.' Such audiences might not even know who Brigitte Macron is, but this conspiracy relates to a larger narrative, explains van der Linden. 'It's a combination of evil elites hiding stuff from us and not being who they say they are, and suspicion of trans people and gender ideology. It's a more palatable version of the conspiracy that powerful leaders are actually lizards – that's a bridge too far for most people.' Indeed, Owens often ticks off other culture war topics in her Macron videos, such as anti-vax sentiments. The Macron transgender accusation is clearly recycled, says van der Linden. 'The exact same story was peddled about Michelle Obama and Jacinda Ardern.' But even if it's patently nonsense, the fact that many current world leaders, 'especially Trump and his allies', are engaging in conspiracy theory rhetoric means that it's harder to outright dismiss it, says Uscinski. 'Tucker and Candace are piggybacking on Trump.' That points to the deadly serious part of this otherwise ludicrous saga. Relations between France and America are already much troubled, with one French politician, Raphaël Glucksmann, even claiming this week that the country should take back the Statue of Liberty after what he characterised as President Trump deciding to 'side with the tyrants' in the war on Ukraine. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt fired back, saying that if it weren't for her country the French would be 'speaking German right now'. It's not inconceivable that if the rumour becomes associated with supporters of Trump, the issue could add further strain to an already tricky relationship between the US president and his French counterpart. Such an outcome would certainly be welcome in Moscow, says van der Linden. 'Russia's goal is to stoke division and chaos,' he warns. Unsubstantiated rumours, after all, can often have very real consequences.
