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00:00The trial for 10 people accused of cyberbullying French President Emmanuel Macron's wife, Brigitte Macron, began in Paris on Monday.
00:08Prosecutors allege the defendants made defamatory claims against Macron online, peddling conspiracy theories about her gender and sexuality,
00:17as well as describing the 24-year age gap between her and her husband as, quote, pedophilia.
00:24The criminal trial set to take place this week stems from a 2024 filing from Brigitte Macron,
00:30separate from the U.S.-based suit against right-wing podcaster Candace Owens, which was filed in July.
00:36The couple has been afflicted for years since Emmanuel Macron's presidential win in 2017
00:41by unsubstantiated conspiracy theories being spread online, claiming Brigitte is a transgender woman
00:48and who was initially born a man named Jean-Michel Tronyeau, which is the name of Brigitte's brother.
00:55Of the 10 people accused in France of online harassment against Brigitte,
00:58two women, self-described independent journalist Natasha Ray, and online fortune teller Amandine Roy,
01:06were originally sued by Brigitte and her brother in 2024.
01:10The duo were found guilty of slander against the French president's wife,
01:14but then appealed and were acquitted in July of this year.
01:17After the court ruled their comments did not constitute defamation,
01:21Brigitte and her brother have now taken their cases against the women to the country's highest appeals court.
01:26Among the other eight male defendants are an elected official, a teacher, a computer scientist,
01:31and a 41-year-old advertiser known by his online moniker, Zoe Sagan.
01:37They could face two years in prison if convicted.
01:41Across the Atlantic, conspiracy-spewing podcaster Candace Owens doubled down on her comments about the French First Lady in July,
01:47after she was slapped with a defamation lawsuit by the Macrones.
01:52You were born a man and you will die a man.
01:55That's the point I'm making.
01:57So give us a sample.
01:58I'll send my doctors to take your blood.
02:00Figure it out real quick.
02:02However you want to go about this.
02:03Hey, how about just giving us some pictures again of you growing up,
02:06you know, raising your children?
02:07That would be fine.
02:08In January, Owens ran an eight-part podcast series in which she made the wild claims about the couple,
02:14who met when Brigitte was the future French leader's schoolteacher in 1993.
02:19She was 39 and he was 15 at the time.
02:23I believe that Emmanuel Macron is a homosexual man that was groomed from his youth,
02:28Owens said in one of the episodes.
02:31I believe the individual who groomed him is now his wife.
02:33I believe his wife was born Jean-Michel Trugnot and transitioned in his early 30s.
02:39And I believe that the entire state is colluding to protect that secret, she said.
02:44Owens is no stranger to controversy.
02:47She has repeatedly courted outrage with anti-Semitic remarks,
02:50minimizing Hitler's ambitions as well as defending Kanye West's social media posts.
02:55She has also amplified a grab bag of conspiracy theories,
02:58such as questioning the moon landing and promoting COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.
03:03She has also been told and wrote a lot about the community,
03:08she has often heard a lot about the history of her own way of learning,
03:11and the history of her own way of learning,
03:12where the pressure he inspired me of learning,
03:14and her whole life has been brought to you all.
03:15She has a lot more than the people of the country and her image of her own way of learning,
03:19She is a lot more than the history of her own way of learning,
03:21and her own way of learning to stop her.
03:23And I believe that she has been a lot of investment in her way of learning,
03:26but the world of learning to compete with respect for other people at the same time.
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