Le Pen's top ally Bardella faces fresh claims he sought to cover up past anti-Semitic comments
National Rally (RN) leader Jordan Bardella deleted data from a former activist Facebook account as soon as allegations that he made anti-Semitic writings in his youth – which he denies – came to light, according to Le Canard enchaîné, a satirical and investigative weekly.
The claims, which Marine Le Pen's party has categorically denied, pile further pressure on the poster boy of the French far right, who is fighting for his political life after allegations he made anti-Semitic comments as a teenager in 2013.
Watch more Still the same far right? Le Pen's National Rally denies fresh anti-Semitism claims
Mediapart, which first broke the story, also claimed on Friday to have identified similarities between messages posted on Bardella's personal Facebook account and others posted on the official X account of the National Rally leader.
The allegations threaten to undermine Bardella's defence, days after he claimed he had "no Facebook account" and that he had "not used" the social media platform "for a very long time". Bardella (bottom right) has been at the heart of Le Pen's strategy to "de-demonise" the party.
Le Canard enchaîné said it had got hold of "extracts of private conversations" proving that "all the data" from an account Bardella used in his early years as an activist with the Front National (the former name of the RN) "was deleted between 28 September and 2 October", immediately following publication of Mediapart's first articles.
Denying the latest allegations, Bardella's entourage said he had "never logged into any Facebook account nor deleted any messages", adding that a complaint for defamation would be filed "in the coming hours".
Mediapart first published its bombshell allegations last week, claiming that Bardella wrote, among other comments, in a chat: "The Jew has to dominate other peoples, crush them, and rob them; a Zionist is necessarily a Jew, and fundamentally so."
The investigative outlet later posted screenshots of the messages Bardella allegedly wrote on Facebook Messenger.
Bardella has chosen a strategy of all-out attack to deny the allegations, accusing his opponents of launching a "total war" to derail the RN's rise to the presidency and vowing to take Mediapart to court for publishing what he described as fakes.
Le Pen has stood by her protégé, seen as a likely prime minister should she win next year's presidential election, telling the media she has "complete confidence" in Bardella.
Read more France's Le Pen vows to 'counterattack' after top ally Bardella hit by anti-Semitism claims
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)