Overview

• Owens said President Trump called her in February to relay a request from Emmanuel Macron to stop spreading claims about Brigitte Macron’s gender identity.
• The White House declined to confirm whether the calls occurred, with communications director Steven Cheung saying it does not comment on private conversations.
• In July, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron filed a 218-page, 22-count defamation complaint in Delaware Superior Court accusing Owens of promoting outlandish fictions that caused reputational and economic harm.
• Foreign public figures must prove actual malice under U.S. defamation law, making the lawsuit a test of how speech protections apply to conspiracy-driven commentary.
• Owens’s eight-part “Becoming Brigitte” series has fueled a wider transvestigation movement that spreads unverified claims about prominent figures’ gender identities.