This is because the investigation published on 28 September is not based on a mere screenshot found at random on the internet. Mediapart explains that it has examined dozens of written exchanges taken from a wider body of documentation, verified their authenticity, and supplemented this material with witness statements. Jordan Bardella categorically denies being the author of the remarks attributed to him, describes them as ‘crude fabrications’ and has taken legal action against the newspaper. (Mediapart)
This leaves the question of the origin of the information. Mediapart naturally protects its sources, and there is nothing at this stage to publicly identify the person or persons who provided the documents. It would therefore be premature to speak with certainty of an ‘RN mole’. The material in question dates back to 2013–2015, a time when Bardella was active within the FN’s activist networks in Seine-Saint-Denis. The potential source could therefore just as easily be a former activist, an old acquaintance, a recipient or holder of old conversations, or someone still active within the RN today.
This last line of inquiry is all the more difficult to unravel given that several leak scandals appear to be overlapping at present. Le Monde reports that a hunt for a supposed ‘mole’ has developed within the RN concerning internal information passed on to *Libération*, notably regarding tensions within the party and its president’s lifestyle. The media outlet L’Infiltré had even announced that it would reveal the identity of this source before ultimately deciding against it. However, there is no evidence to suggest that this alleged Libération source is also behind the documents obtained by Mediapart. (Le Monde)
Another factor is fuelling speculation. Jean-Philippe Tanguy, an RN MP, has publicly put forward the theory that former far-right activists who were sidelined or have become hostile to the party may be behind it. But when asked about the evidence he had, he admitted that this was merely his “firm belief”. In other words: a political accusation, not a proven identification of the source. (RTL.fr)
We must also look at the milieu in which the young Bardella moved. Le Monde interviewed several former regulars at the ‘Forum’, a venue frequented in the 2010s by young Front National activists from the Paris region. The newspaper describes a world in which videos by Alain Soral and Dieudonné were widely circulated, whilst noting that several witnesses interviewed said they had never personally heard Bardella make anti-Semitic remarks. (Le Monde)
This may well be the real key to the case: one’s early years in politics leave a huge trail. Private messages, emails, social media accounts, discussions between activists, personal archives… Documents forgotten for ten or fifteen years may still be in the possession of several people. It is therefore not even certain that there is a single ‘mole’.
The issue nevertheless becomes politically sensitive because the investigation directly touches on the personal history of the man who now leads the National Rally. Bardella claims that the documents are fabrications and sees their publication as a ploy designed to destabilise his political career. Mediapart, on the other hand, claims to have independently verified the correspondence on which its investigation is based. The legal proceedings announced by Bardella could now shift part of this battle into the courts. (Reuters)
So, who spoke out?
For the moment, we have no idea.
A former ally turned enemy? A sidelined activist? Several independent witnesses? Someone who had simply been keeping their archives for thirteen years? All these possibilities can be considered, but none can currently be presented as proven.
One thing, however, is clear: beyond the actual content of the revelations, their publication has triggered a search for sources and a level of internal mistrust strong enough to become a political issue in its own right. And sometimes, in a case of a leak, the hunt for the mole says almost as much about a party as what the alleged mole might have revealed.
