Le Pen Accuses Mediapart of Dirty Tricks as Bardella Fights Anti-Semitism Allegations

Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader and current presidential frontrunner, has thrown her full support behind her party chief Jordan Bardella after a media investigation alleged he made anti-Semitic remarks more than a decade ago. Speaking on Tuesday, Le Pen denounced what she described as a deliberate effort to sabotage her bid for the Élysée Palace and insisted she retains "total confidence" in the 31-year-old who leads the National Rally (RN).

The controversy erupted after the investigative website Mediapart published claims that Bardella, then a teenager, wrote inflammatory comments in private online chats during the summer of 2013. According to the report, he allegedly wrote that "the Jew has to dominate other peoples, crush them, and rob them" and that "all the banks are owned by Jews." Mediapart stated it had authenticated the messages but did not disclose where they were written or publish screenshots of the exchanges.

Bardella has categorically denied authoring the comments and announced he is pursuing legal action against Mediapart. Appearing alongside Le Pen before party deputies, he characterised the report as the opening shot in a "total war" designed to destabilise the presidential campaign. He suggested the allegations were the product of an operation prepared over "several months" and raised the possibility that either Mediapart orchestrated the disclosures or was itself manipulated by powerful behind-the-scenes actors seeking to derail Le Pen's momentum.

Le Pen, who is making her fourth attempt at the presidency, warned that her opponents would stop at nothing to halt her rise. "Our opponents will do absolutely anything – including the most disgusting things – to try to derail this momentum," she said, referring to the 2027 election to succeed centrist President Emmanuel Macron. She also directed a thinly veiled threat at the outlet, saying Mediapart should "put on its Kevlar vest" because there would "obviously be a response" to its conduct.

The timing of the allegations is particularly sensitive for the RN, which has spent years trying to shed the toxic legacy of its founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine's father, who repeatedly made anti-Semitic remarks during his decades at the helm of the National Front. Bardella has been central to that "de-demonisation" project, cultivating a clean-cut image and making an unprecedented visit to Israel in 2025 – the first by a French far-right leader – to showcase the party's new credentials.

A poll published Monday suggested Le Pen would comfortably lead the first round of next year's presidential vote and defeat any rival in the second-round run-off. She is campaigning despite a conviction for a fake jobs scam in the European Parliament, a case she claims was falsified by her political opponents. The party also scored a significant breakthrough at the weekend by winning enough seats in the indirectly elected Senate to form a parliamentary group in the upper house for the first time.

Bardella, a skilled social media operator, has helped the RN make inroads among younger voters and is widely tipped to become prime minister if Le Pen wins the presidency. He described the allegations as an attempt to "kill my political career" and rejected suggestions that the leak might have come from within his own party, following a purge of extremists. He insisted the material could only have been orchestrated by Mediapart or exploited by external forces with a vested interest in destabilising the campaign.

The affair has drawn wry commentary from across the political spectrum. Julien Aubert, vice president of the right-wing Republicans, told Radio J that the situation would inevitably produce a casualty. "Either Mediapart is right – in which case I do not see how Jordan Bardella can continue – or the whole thing is a great dirty trick and then Mediapart has taken a great risk," he said. His remarks underscored the high stakes for both the accusers and the accused.

Mediapart has a long track record of investigative journalism in France, and its report has reignited debate about the resurgence of anti-Semitism in French politics. The claims place the RN in an uncomfortable position just as it seeks to consolidate its gains and present itself as a mainstream governing force. For Le Pen, the episode threatens to overshadow her carefully constructed campaign narrative of competence and respectability.

The investigation is built on comments allegedly made when Bardella was 17 or 18 years old, a period when he was already active in far-right circles. Mediapart maintains the comments are authentic, though the absence of published screenshots has fuelled accusations of a political hit job. Bardella's legal action will likely test the evidentiary basis of the report in the coming weeks.

Le Pen's vow to "counterattack" signals that the RN intends to fight the allegations aggressively rather than retreat. The party has increasingly positioned itself as the victim of a hostile media and political establishment, a framing that has proven effective with its base. Whether the strategy can contain the damage among broader voters remains uncertain, particularly given the sensitivity of anti-Semitism in French public life.

With the presidential election still more than a year away, the controversy has already reshaped the early campaign landscape. Le Pen remains the dominant figure in the race, but the spotlight on her closest ally's past could complicate her efforts to broaden her appeal. The coming weeks will determine whether the allegations inflict lasting damage or become another episode in the RN's long and contentious march toward power.