“Should an innocent man resign? I do not believe“. The new Minister of Solidarity Damien Abad defended himself on Monday May 23, after accusations of rape by two women in Médiapart, for alleged facts dating back to 2010 and 2011.
>> What we know about the rape charges against Damien Abad, the new Minister of Solidarity
The LR defector remains supported by the presidential majority for the moment. But according to information from franceinfo, the new minister had prepared for these revelations. According to a tenor on the right, Damien Abad even hesitated to join the government because of this, “but the envy of the position prevailed“, he said. It was obvious that it was going to come out. According to this tenor of the right, it is a “Macron’s mistake in appointing him.“
According to our information, the information was already turning, a few days before his appointment to the government, in Whatsapp loops of parliamentary attachés. Damien Abad himself is not surprised: “This complaint resurfaces at every key political moment of my life.“, testifies the ex LR to the Figaro.
According to a parliamentarian, “the noise was circulating” before the election of Damien Abad at the head of the LR group in the National Assembly, in 2017, when one of the two alleged victims filed a complaint. It was “corridor noise”, assures this same parliamentarian to franceinfo. To justify their silence, many evoke the lack of elements. “We don’t have access to complaints, what do you want us to do?” defends a deputy Les Républicains.
For his part, party boss Christian Jacob claims to have confronted Damien Abad five years ago: “He replied that everything was wrong“, he said to our colleagues from Point.
It is also the behavior of the new minister that some members of the Republicans denounce, often with the same terms to qualify him: “big heavy“, “Lourdingue” with women. The words come from former colleagues in the Assembly, figures from his former party, his detractors and even some of his relatives.
Everyone we have contacted claims to have witnessed or heard of the former LR leader’s insistent behavior in the Assembly. “Insistent“, even “moved“, according to a young deputy who recounts a dinner in an office of the National Assembly. That evening, Damien Abad, tipsy, insults a collaborator, according to his words. “It was vulgar, greasy and quite disgusting“, assures the parliamentarian who also evokes repetitive messages sent to activists to go for a drink.
The members of the Republicans, after these revelations, do not hesitate to drive the point home against the one who has joined the majority.