French President Macron and wife file defamation suit against Candace Owens
Owens, according to the complaint, used this false statement "to promote her independent platform, gain notoriety, and make money."
"Ms. Owens' campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety. We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused," the Macrons said in a statement. "It is our earnest hope that this lawsuit will set the record straight and end this campaign of defamation once and for all."
MORE: France's Macron dismisses video showing wife shoving him in the face
The complaint, filed in Delaware Superior Court, spans over 200 pages and includes 22 counts of defamation, false light, and defamation by implication. The Macrons are seeking damages, though no amount is included.
The complaint cites a host of claims Owens has made about the Macrons, including that the two are secretly 'blood relatives.'
"These claims are demonstrably false, and Owens knew they were false when she published them," the complaint states. "Yet, she published them anyway. And the reason is clear: it is not the pursuit of truth, but the pursuit of fame."
In a statement, a spokesperson for Owens said Owens "is not shutting up" and that the lawsuit amounts to a "foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist."
"Candace repeatedly requested an interview with Brigitte Macron," the statement said. "Instead of offering a comment, Brigitte is resorting to trying to bully a reporter into submission. In France, politicians can bully journalists, but this is not France. It's America."
The complaint says that Owens' claims have caused "tremendous damage" to the Macrons, and have "subjected the Macrons to a campaign of global humiliation, turning their lives into fodder for profit-driven lies."
"The result is relentless bullying on a worldwide scale," the complaint says. "Every time the Macrons leave their home, they do so knowing that countless people have heard, and many believe, these vile fabrications. It is invasive, dehumanizing, and deeply unjust."
A press release accompanying the Macrons' complaint says the Marcons sent Owens three retraction demands prior to filing their suit.
"If ever there was a clear-cut case of defamation, this is it," Tom Clare, an attorney for the Macrons, said in a statement. "Relying on discredited falsehoods originally presented by a self-proclaimed spiritual medium and so-called investigative journalist, Ms. Owens both promoted and expanded on those falsehoods and invented new ones, all designed to cause maximum harm to the Macrons and maximize attention and financial gain for herself."
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