French president and wife sue U.S. podcaster for claiming Brigitte Macron was born male
The Macrons said in a lawsuit filed in Delaware Superior Court that Owens has waged a lie-filled "campaign of global humiliation" to promote her podcast and expand her "frenzied" fan base.
The couple said the lies included that Brigitte Macron, 72, was born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, the actual name of her older brother.
"Owens has dissected their appearance, their marriage, their friends, their family, and their personal history twisting it all into a grotesque narrative designed to inflame and degrade," the complaint said.
"The result," it added, "is relentless bullying on a worldwide scale."
In a statement, a spokesperson for Owens called the lawsuit itself an effort to bully her, after Brigitte Macron rejected Owens's repeated requests for an interview.
"Candace Owens is not shutting up," the spokesperson said. "This is a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist."
In a joint statement released by their lawyers, the Macrons said they sued after Owens rejected three demands that she retract defamatory statements.
"Ms. Owens's campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety," the Macrons said. "We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused."
Rare for world leader to sue
Wednesday's lawsuit is a rare case of a world leader suing for defamation.
U.S. President Donald Trump has also turned to the courts, including in a $10-billion US lawsuit accusing the Wall Street Journal of defaming him by claiming he created a lewd birthday greeting for disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.
The Journal said it would defend itself against that case and had full confidence in its reporting.
In December, meanwhile, Trump reached a $15-million US settlement with Walt Disney-owned ABC over an inaccurate claim that a jury found him liable for rape, rather than sexual assault, in a civil lawsuit.
To prevail in U.S. defamation cases, public figures must show that defendants engaged in "actual malice," a tough legal standard requiring proof the defendants knew what they published was false or had reckless disregard for its truth.
Owens has more than 6.9 million followers on social media platform X and more than 4.5 million YouTube subscribers.
WATCH | The Macrons made headlines in May over airplane interaction:
Macron pushed in the face as he prepares to deplane
2 months ago
French President Emmanuel Macron's office is downplaying a moment on a plane in which a woman, later reported to be his wife, Brigitte, appeared to push away Macron's face as cameras captured the moment from the tarmac.
The Macrons' lawsuit focuses on the eight-part podcast Becoming Brigitte, which has more than 2.3 million views on YouTube, and X posts linked to it.
According to the Macrons, the series spread "verifiably false and devastating lies," including that Brigitte Macron stole another person's identity and transitioned to female, and that the Macrons are blood relatives committing incest.
The complaint discusses circumstances under which the Macrons met, when the now 47-year-old president was a high school student and Brigitte was a teacher. It said their relationship "remained within the bounds of the law."
According to the complaint, baseless speculation about Brigitte Macron's gender began surfacing in 2021, and the topic has been discussed on popular American podcasts hosted by Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan, who have many conservative followers.
In September, Brigitte Macron won a lawsuit in a French court against two women, including a self-described medium, who contributed to spreading rumours about her gender.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
5 hours ago
- CBC
Can RFK Jr. save B.C.'s death row ostriches?
A New York City billionaire and conservative talk radio host. Two of the most vocally antivax members of Donald Trump's administration. Protesters associated with the "Freedom Convoy" that occupied downtown Ottawa in 2022. What do they have in common? They all want to save a herd of more than 400 ostriches on a small farm in rural British Columbia. Earlier this year, Universal Ostrich Farms was ordered to cull their remaining birds after an outbreak of avian flu killed dozens of them. But the farm has been fighting the government's order in court, claiming the ostriches' antibodies are crucial for research into alternatives to traditional vaccines. Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, a reporter with Canada's National Observer, explains why the farm's story has spread so widely through the right-wing media ecosystem, finding so much synergy with vaccine skepticism, climate denial, and other conspiracy theories about shadowy bids for global control.
CTV News
5 hours ago
- CTV News
Trump's tariffs could squeeze U.S. factories and boost costs by up to 4.5%, a new analysis finds
President Donald Trump talks to workers as he tours U.S. Steel Corporation's Mon Valley Works-Irvin plant, Friday, May 30, 2025, in West Mifflin, Pa. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File) WASHINGTON — As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to announce new tariff increases, the costs of his policies are starting to come into focus for a domestic manufacturing sector that depends on global supply chains, with a new analysis suggesting factory costs could increase by roughly two to 4.5 per cent. 'There's going to be a cash squeeze for a lot of these firms,' said Chris Bangert-Drowns, the researcher at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth who conducted the analysis. Those seemingly small changes at factories with slim profit margins, Bangert-Drowns said, 'could lead to stagnation of wages, if not layoffs and closures of plants' if the costs are untenable. The analysis, released Tuesday, points to the challenges Trump might face in trying to sell his tariffs to the public as a broader political and economic win and not just as evidence his negotiating style gets other nations to back down. The success of Trump's policies ultimately depends on whether everyday Americans become wealthier and factory towns experience revivals, a goal outside economists say his Republican administration is unlikely to meet with tariffs. Trump has announced new frameworks with the European Union, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Britain that would each raise the import taxes charged by the United States. He's prepared to levy tariffs against goods from dozens of other countries starting on Friday in the stated range of 15 to 50 per cent. The U.S. stock market has shown relief the tariff rates aren't as high as Trump initially threatened in April and hope for a sense of stability going forward. Trump maintains the tariff revenues will whittle down the budget deficit and help whip up domestic factory jobs, all while playing down the risks of higher prices. 'We've wiped out inflation,' Trump said last Friday before boarding Marine One while on his way to Scotland. But there's the possibility of backlash in the form of higher prices and slower growth once tariffs flow more fully through the world economy. A June survey by the Atlanta Federal Reserve suggested companies would on average pass half of their tariff costs onto U.S. consumers through higher prices. Labor Department data shows America lost 14,000 manufacturing jobs after Trump rolled out his April tariffs, putting a lot of pressure as to whether a rebound starts in the June employment report coming out Friday. With new tariffs in place, there are new costs for factories The Washington Center for Equitable Growth analysis shows how Trump's devotion to tariffs carries potential economic and political costs for his agenda. In the swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin, more than one in five jobs are in the critical sectors of manufacturing, construction, mining and oil drilling and maintenance that have high exposures to his import taxes. The artificial intelligence sector Trump last week touted as the future of the economy is dependent on imports. More than 20 per cent of the inputs for computer and electronics manufacturing are imported, so the tariffs could ultimately magnify a hefty multitrillion-dollar price tag for building out the technology in the U.S. The White House argues American businesses will access new markets because of the trade frameworks, saying companies will ultimately benefit as a result. 'The 'Made in USA' label is set to resume its global dominance under President Trump,' White House spokesman Kush Desai said. Still lots of uncertainty, but world economy faces a new toll There are limits to the analysis. Trump's tariff rates have been a moving target, and the analysis looks only at additional costs, not how those costs will be absorbed among foreign producers, domestic manufacturers and consumers. Also, the legal basis of the tariffs as an 'emergency' act goes before a U.S. appeals court on Thursday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview last week on Fox Business Network's 'Kudlow' show countries were essentially accepting the tariffs to maintain access to the U.S. market. 'Everyone is willing to pay a toll,' he said. But what Bessent didn't say is U.S. manufacturers are also paying much of that toll. 'We're getting squeezed from all sides,'' said Justin Johnson, president of Jordan Manufacturing Co. in Belding, Michigan, northeast of Grand Rapids. His grandfather founded the company in 1949. The company, which makes parts used by Amazon warehouses, auto companies and aerospace firms, has seen the price of a key raw material — steel coil — rise five to 10 per cent this year. Trump has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Jordan Manufacturing doesn't buy foreign steel. But by crippling foreign competition, Trump's tariffs have allowed domestic U.S. steelmakers to hike prices. Johnson doesn't blame them. 'There's no red-blooded capitalist who isn't going to raise his prices'' under those circumstances, he said. Trump says no inflation from tariffs, but businesses see higher prices The Trump White House insists inflation is not surfacing in the economy, issuing a report through the Council of Economic Advisers this month saying the price of imported goods fell between December of last year and this past May. 'These findings contradict claims that tariffs or tariff-fears would lead to an acceleration of inflation,' the report concludes. Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at the Budget Lab at Yale University, said that the more accurate measure would be to compare the trends in import prices with themselves in the past and that the CEA's own numbers show 'import prices have accelerated in recent months.' The latest estimate from the Budget Lab at Yale is the tariffs would cause the average household to have US$2,400 less than it would otherwise have. Keeping the economy on a knife's edge Josh Smith, founder and president of Montana Knife Co., called himself a Trump voter but said he sees the tariffs on foreign steel and other goods as threatening his business. For instance, Smith just ordered a $515,000 machine from Germany that grinds his knife blades to a sharp edge. Trump had imposed a 10% tax on products from the EU that is set to rise to 15% under the trade framework he announced Sunday. So Trump's tax on the machine comes to $77,250 — about enough for Smith to hire an entry-level worker. Smith would happily buy the bevel-grinding machines from an American supplier. But there aren't any. 'There's only two companies in the world that make them, and they're both in Germany,'' Smith said. Then there's imported steel, which Trump is taxing at 50 per cent. Until this year, Montana Knife bought the powdered steel it needs from Crucible Industries in Syracuse, New York. But Crucible declared bankruptcy last December, and its assets were purchased by a Swedish firm, Erasteel, which moved production to Sweden. Smith beat the tariffs by buying a year's worth of the steel in advance. But starting in 2026, the specialty steel he'll be importing from Sweden is set to be hit with a 50 per cent duty. 'The average American is not sitting in the position I am, looking at the numbers I am and making the decisions each day, like, 'Hey, we cannot hire those extra few people because we might have to pay this tariff on this steel or this tariff on this grinder,''' he said. 'I want to buy more equipment and hire more people. That's what I want to do.' Josh Boak And Paul Wiseman, The Associated Press
CTV News
5 hours ago
- CTV News
Countries are 'coming to heel and rolling around like kittens' to Trump's trade demands: MacKay
Watch Donald Trump mused about a baseline global tariff of 15 to 20 per cent as trade negotiations intensify between Canada and the U.S. Abigail Bimman has the latest.
