Brigitte Macron's daughter testifies about alleged cyberbullying of France's first lady

PARIS (AP) — The daughter of France’s first lady Brigitte Macron testified Tuesday about the “deterioration” of her mother’s life after alleged cyberbullying spread claims that President Emmanuel Macron ’s wife is a man.

“She cannot ignore the horrible things said about her," Tiphaine Auzière told the second and final day of the Paris trial.

Ten people are accused of posting alleged malicious comments online about the first lady’s gender and sexuality, and of associating the 24-year age gap with her husband with “pedophilia.” Some posts have been viewed tens of thousands of times.

Some defendants told the court the comments they posted were humor or satire and they did not understand why they were on trial. They include an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist. They face up to two years in prison if convicted.

“I’d like to express what her life looks like since she was the target of massive cyberbullying. This has led to a deterioration in her living conditions,” Auzière, one of Brigitte Macron’s three children, told the court.

Auzière noted that many images of Macron are being misused online: “As a result, she is forced to be careful about her outfits, her posture and her everyday life.”

Brigitte Macron did not attend the trial. A verdict is likely to come at a later date.

Auzière said the family suffers consequences.

“This has repercussions on her children and grandchildren. They hear things at school such as, ‘Your grandmother is a man.' I don’t know how to make it stop,” she said.

The Macrons for years have been dogged by conspiracy theories that Brigitte was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux, who supposedly took the name Brigitte as a transgender woman. Jean-Michel Trogneux is the name of Brigitte’s brother.

Asked whether she sees her uncle, Auzière said, “I saw him a few months ago and he was doing very well.”

The Macrons also filed a defamation suit in July in a Delaware court as their lawyer said they seek “substantial” damages from U.S. conservative influencer Candace Owens if she persists with claims that Brigitte is a man.

The Macrons, married since 2007, first met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. Brigitte Macron was then called Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three.

Emmanuel Macron, 47, has been France’s president since 2017.

Activist Juan Branco , left, and defendant Aurelien Poirson-Atlan, known as Zoe Sagan on social media, leave for break as ten people go on trial accused of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron after they allegedly made "malicious" comments online spreading claims that President Emmanuel Macron's wife is a man, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Tiphaine Auziere, daughter of Brigitte Macron, arrives as a courtroom as ten people go on trial accused of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron after they allegedly made "malicious" comments online spreading claims that President Emmanuel Macron's wife is a man, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron pose before a dinner ahead of the UN Ocean Conference Sunday, June 8, 2025 in Nice, French Riviera. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, file)

Tiphaine Auziere, daughter of Brigitte Macron, arrives as a courtroom as ten people go on trial accused of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron after they allegedly made "malicious" comments online spreading claims that President Emmanuel Macron's wife is a man, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. service member who has been missing since Iran shot down a fighter jet has been rescued, President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post early Sunday.

A frantic U.S. search-and-rescue operation unfolded after the crash of the F-15E Strike Eaglejet on Friday, as Iran also promised a reward for anyone who turned in the “enemy pilot.” “This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,” he wrote.

A second crew member was rescued earlier.

“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,” Trump wrote.

Trump said that the aviator is injured but “will be just fine,” adding that the rescue involved “dozens of aircraft” and that U.S. had been monitoring his location “24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue.”

The fighter jet was the first U.S. aircraft to have crashed in Iranian territory since the conflict in late February.

Trump said last week that the U.S. had “decimated” Iran and would finish the war “very fast.” Two days later, Iran shot down two U.S. military planes, showing the ongoing perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of a degraded Iranian military to continue to hit back.

The war began with joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Feb. 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened, and hit, civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes.

The other jet to go down was a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft. Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it crashed was immediately known.

Trump renewed his threats for Iran to open up the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy shipments that has been choked off by Tehran, by Monday or face devastating consequences, writing Saturday in a social media post: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.”

“The doors of hell will be opened to you” if Iran’s infrastructure is attacked, Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi with the country’s joint military command said late Saturday in response to Trump’s renewed threat, state media reported. In turn, the general threatened all infrastructure used by the U.S. military in the region.

But Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, told The Associated Press that his government’s efforts to broker a ceasefire are “right on track” after Islamabad last week said that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that Iranian officials “have never refused to go to Islamabad.”

Mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt were working to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.

The proposed compromise includes a cessation of hostilities to allow a diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the efforts and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.

A second U.S. Air Force combat aircraft went down in the Middle East on Friday, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation. It wasn’t clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down, or whether Iran was involved.

Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iran’s defense forces.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issued a veiled threat late Friday to disrupt traffic through a second strategic waterway in the region, the Bab el-Mandeb.

The strait, 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide, links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. More than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships pass through it.

“Which countries and companies account for the highest transit volumes through the strait?” Qalibaf wrote.

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began.

In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Ten Israeli soldiers have died there.

Jon Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Samy Magdy from Cairo. Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; and Konstantin Toropin, Seung Min Kim, Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro and Ben Finley in Washington, contributed to this report.

Followers of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr chant slogans as they wave national Iraqi flag during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A bedroom is damaged in a building struck in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Pedetrians walk by a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh, with the mosque visible in the background, which officials at the site say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday, in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Police officers and their horses take cover in an underground parking garage as sirens warn of an incoming missile fired from Yemen in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)

A man looks at a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh complex that officials say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)