Zemmour rejects sexual assault claims as ‘pathetic’ smears

FRENCH far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour’s team yesterday dismissed allegations by eight women of “inappropriate behaviour and sexual assault”, as a “pathetic” smear campaign five weeks before elections.

The women made the claims against the leader of Reconquest! in a film released this week by investigative website Mediapart.

The alleged incidents took place between 1999 and 2019. Some were when Mr Zemmour, 63, was a columnist at Le Figaro, a conservative daily newspaper, others when he was a pundit on itélé, a TV news channel.

None of the women filed a legal complaint, saying they didn’t think they would have been taken seriously at the time. Reacting to the film on Tuesday, Mr Zemmour’s entourage dismissed the allegations as an attempt to smear him.

Asked about them in December, Mr Zemmour told France 2: “It’s not for me to answer. I don’t talk about my private life. These women accuse me, and it’s their word against mine.”

One woman, known only as Claire, said Mr Zemmour had molested her in 2002 when she was an 18-year-old intern after asking her to help him with a computer problem. Another former intern, Séverine, accused him of making “very crude proposals of a sexual nature” and saying he could ‘“help” her with her career if she played ball.

Mr Zemmour yesterday denied having a problem with women, pointing to Marion Maréchal’s decision to join his camp last weekend and to his campaign adviser and partner Sarah Knafo.

“There are women of power around me who wouldn’t put up with working with a misogynist,” he added.