Nicolas Bay was thinking about the best way to announce his departure, Marine Le Pen shot first. To defuse the shock wave of the defection of one of the highest executives of the National Rally (RN), the candidate precipitated, Tuesday, February 15, the announcement of the rallying, certainly expected, to Eric Zemmour of the MEP , whom she accuses of ” high treason “. In the evening, the party published a harsh press release denouncing a “perfectly immoral behavior” and an “duplicity unworthy of the trust placed in him”to justify the decision of “suspend him from his campaign spokesperson as well as from all his other responsibilities”.
An hour earlier, Nicolas Bay had publicly called for an emergency meeting of the executive board to have “a frank explanation” about ” crisis “ through the countryside. The RN cut short all negotiations and made public the deaf war that had been simmering for a long time. “We have had confirmation that Nicolas Bay, taking advantage of his presence in the highest instances of the campaign, has been transmitting strategic and confidential elements for months to our direct competitor, Eric Zemmour”said the party, denouncing “a real sabotage”. The RN staff did not indicate what information it would be.
Nicolas Bay for his part denounced “grotesque and crude accusations” and replied that he was not “associated with no decision” – it is true that he was not even invited to the campaign office. “These are slanders to which I will respond appropriately”, decided the former secretary general of the RN. His MEP colleague Gilbert Collard, who awaits him at Reconquête!, the movement of Mr. Zemmour, was ironic on Tuesday evening on these accusations of espionage: “The National Rally pretends to hunt someone who left to save honor. I don’t want to be cuckolded so I leave my wife. »
A central place in the RN
Marine Le Pen had prepared the ground Tuesday morning, during a trip to Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne) on the Francophonie. “I would like to ask those operating the slug strategy to please expedite their departure”, had slammed the candidate with a kind of cold rage. She had, without mentioning a name, spoken of the « sabotage » which consists in “staying for weeks and weeks in authorities, at the nuclear heart” of the campaign, to inform a political competitor: “That’s what I call the slug strategy, not only because the slug is slow, but also because it’s sticky. »
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