Macrons hire PI over alleged Candace Owens Russia link

The Macrons weren’t messing around. Lawyers representing French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, enlisted a private investigator to research far-right podcaster Candace Owens as they prepared to take legal action against her, Knewz.com can reveal. Emmanuel and Brigitte sued Owens for defamation after she allegedly ignored multiple legal warnings from their attorney about her repeatedly promoting baseless conspiracy theories alleging the French first lady was actually born a man and assaulted her husband when he was a minor.

After digging into Owens’ background, the private investigators reportedly compiled a trove of documents detailing her ties to French right-wing influencers and alarming popularity in Russian media. The investigation was conducted by U.S.-based law firm Nardello and Co. and presented to the Macrons before they filed their lawsuit against the podcast host last month. Nardello and Co. executive chair Dan Nardello noted, “The Macrons have brought this lawsuit with the full knowledge of who Owens is aligned with.”

The Marcons’ decision to hire the private investigators not only showed how serious they were about pursuing legal action against Owens but also served as a subtle flex of their resources and willingness to spend money on the matter. Emmanuel and Brigitte’s lawyer, Tom Clare, also said the couple wanted to understand why a U.S.-based influencer would take such an interest in them and be willing to “risk her professional reputation” over the conspiracy theory. Clare added that the private investigators’ findings could also be helpful when explaining the context in which Owens made the claims to a jury.

Despite being hit with a lawsuit, Owens has refused to back down and continued to attack the Macrons on her show. Owens addressed Emmanuel and Brigitte hiring a private investigator to “look into my relationship with Russia” on her podcast and accused the French first lady of suffering from “mental illness.” Owens also took to social media to slam the couple for hiring private investigators, despite the move being common practice in lawsuits. “How is this not mental illness? @EmmanuelMacron is being absolutely humiliated,” she wrote on X. Hours later, she doubled down in a follow-up post, writing, “I cannot believe my eyes. This is a literal head of state hiring investigators to look into a mother who podcasts from her basement. @EmmanuelMacron, your wife absolutely must check into rehab.”

Owens’ claims are largely based on a conspiracy theory pushed in a 2021 YouTube video by self-proclaimed spiritual medium Amandine Roy and self-described journalist Natacha Rey, both of whom Brigitte has already sued for libel and is currently in the process of appealing their overturned convictions. The Macrons accused Owens of “routinely peddling misinformation under the guise of legitimate reporting” and said she “built a brand on provocation, not truth.” Their lawsuit stated, “Her conduct reveals a clear motive to generate controversy for financial and reputational gain. She will say anything, regardless of how outrageous or unfounded, to attract attention, build her platform, and achieve notoriety.”