Macron security aide affair: the secret recordings that change everything

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An investigation by Mediapart sheds dramatic new light on the affair involving Alexandre Benalla, who was a security aide to President Emmanuel Macron until he was sacked when video footage emerged showing that he had used violence against protestors at a demonstration. In particular recordings of Benalla talking to the former head of security for the ruling LREM party, Vincent Crase, who also lost his job over the scandal, reveal details about a secret meeting that breached a judicial control order, about a security contract with a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, and Benalla's ongoing communications with President Macron. Fabrice Arfi, Antton Rouget and Marine Turchi report.

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An investigation over several months by Mediapart, based on around ten independent sources and many new documents, including audio tapes, casts fresh light on the secret background to the so-called Macron-Benalla affair involving the French president's disgraced former security aide Alexandre Benalla. Benalla was sacked by the Élysée in July 2018 when news and video footage emerged of him using violence against protestors on May 1st that year.

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