Macron Denies Disgraced Moroccan Bodyguard was Gay Lover, Had Access to Nuclear Codes

French president Emmanuel Macron has denied his disgraced private bodyguard Alexandre Benalla was his gay lover, or that he had access to the country’s nuclear codes.

Macron’s presidency has been plunged into scandal by the Moroccan-born aide, who is not a police officer but was recorded striking a male protestor and dragging him to the ground while wearing a police helmet and tags on May Day.

A second video has since emerged, which purports to show Benalla manhandling a female protestor.

The affair has led to police raiding the French president’s official residence at the Élysée Palace, with Benalla facing charges of assault and impersonating a police officer.

Macron’s relationship with the Moroccan has since come under intense scrutiny, and while he was silent on the scandal for a long period after it broke, his unfavourability ratings rising to 60 percent appear to have forced him to speak out.

Critics have claimed Macron’s team failed to pass information to prosecutors in defiance of legal obligations, and three police officers are said to have been suspended for passing CCTV footage to Benalla which he was not authorised to have in an effort to help him clear his name.

“No, Alexandre Benalla did not have the nuclear codes… no, Benalla was not my lover,” the French president told Le Parisien, in an attempt to quash some of the more outlandish accusations.

While this may have been an attempt to quell rumours about his personal relationships in a humorous manner, it is likely his statement will simply add fuel to the fire.

The childless French leader, formerly a banker for Rothschild & Co. and economy minister in François Hollande’s Socialist Party government, was previously forced to deny having a gay affair with Mathieu Gallet, head of state broadcaster Radio France.

Gallet’s contract was subsequently terminated, with former culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand suggesting that Macron had pushed for Gallet’s ouster in order to quash the persistent rumours about them.

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