Benalla affair
In the first affair, the newspaper Le Monde identified Benalla on 18 July 2018 in footage as the person who beat up a young protester during the 2018 May Day demonstrations in Paris while impersonating a police officer.
In the second affair, it was revealed by the French online journal Mediapart at the end of 2018 that Benalla was still in possession of a number of diplomatic passports several months after he was fired from the Élysée staff.
[8] Karim Achoui, the founder of the Muslim Judicial Defense League with whom Benalla was close, made a previous request for a carry permit that was denied in 2013 in his capacity as a lawyer.
[11] During a March 2017 campaign event in Caen, he allegedly pushed a Public Sénat journalist 50 meters and seized his press badge, which granted close access to Macron and his supporters, without giving any explanation.
[13] On 18 July 2018, Le Monde revealed in an article that 26-year-old Alexandre Benalla, who served as a security officer to President of France Emmanuel Macron during the 2017 presidential campaign and was later hired as deputy chief of staff to the president under François-Xavier Lauch, was the person who grabbed a young man by the neck during the May Day demonstrations before hitting him several times in a video taken at the Place de la Contrescarpe published on Facebook by a La France Insoumise activist.
As a result, Benalla was temporarily suspended from 4 to 19 May before being reassigned to the security of events at the Élysée Palace, including the celebration of the victory of the national football team after winning the 2018 FIFA World Cup just days before the publication of the report.
[8] Benalla was accompanied by Vincent Crase, a reservist gendarme hired by La République En Marche!, who likewise served as a security officer for Macron during the 2017 presidential campaign.
[17] On 19 July, the Paris prosecutor announced that it opened a preliminary investigation into incidents of "violence, usurpation of the functions of a police officer and using insignia reserved for public authorities" concerning Alexandre Benalla.
[21] On 20 July, the Élysée announced that it had initiated a dismissal procedure against Benalla following the discovery of "new facts" of the case related to the suspension of three police officers – Laurent Simonin, Maxence Creusat, and Jean-Yves Hunault – for apparently passing on surveillance footage to Benella, presumably to help him prepare his defense in what Collomb described as a potentially "serious breach of ethics".
While many avoided contact with the press and others deflected media inquiries by referring them to the Élysée, some La République En Marche deputies suggesting the two-week suspension of Benalla was too lenient a response.
[34] The revelations came amid the examination in the National Assembly of amendments to the proposed constitutional revision on 19 July, with opposition deputies frequently interrupting the session to demand the creation of an investigative committee into the case.
"[20] After meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on 20 July, Macron failed to hold a joint press conference, as customary following visits from other heads of state.
[42] Jean-Luc Mélenchon, president of the La France Insoumise group in the National Assembly, announced that he intended to attempt to submit a vote of no confidence against the government,[8] and said that the affair was "at the level of Watergate".
[46] In his first public interview since the story broke, Benalla said that he made a "mistake", that he was qualified to carry a weapon as a reservist gendarme, acknowledged tensions with the Security Group for the Presidency of the Republic (GSPR), that he requested housing of only 80 square meters as opposed the 300 reported by L'Express, that he was invited by Simonin to observe the May Day protests, and that he did not request the video surveillance footage of the incident procured by three police officers.
[51] Eventually, the committee agreed to hear Collomb on 23 July, followed by Paris police chief Michel Delpuech several hours later, though co-rapporteur Guillaume Larrivé of The Republicans (LR) wished to also interview both Benalla and Crase as well as Christophe Castaner, Alexis Kohler, and Bruno Roger-Petit.
[53] Though the opposition also called for Prime Minister Édouard Philippe to speak before the National Assembly, he demurred, justifying his absence by citing his scheduled travel to watch the 2018 Tour de France.
[56] Article 40 of the code of criminal procedure, however, makes no hierarchical stipulations, and there exists no such limitation prohibiting officials from reporting crimes not committed by subordinates.
[67] Meanwhile, the atmosphere of the National Assembly's investigation deteriorated as tensions grew between members of the majority and opposition, with the latter alleging that Braun-Pivet attempted to impede its progress and avoid hearing staff at the Élysée, Interior Ministry, La République En Marche, and police unions, some of which had been already interviewed by the Senate.
On 26 July, Larrivé announced that he suspended his participation in the investigation, considering it a farce faced against the Élysée's apparent efforts to hinder its progress,[68] and the rest of the opposition subsequently quit the inquiry.
[53] The Senate committee also interviewed Delpuech, Éric Morvan,[52] Alexis Kohler, Patrick Strzoda, Christophe Castaner, and other related individuals in the course of its investigation.
