Family first: Le Pen clan tightens its grip as Bardella hits trouble

PARIS — In Marine Le Pen’s political world, family has a habit of finding its way back to the center of power. The 31-year-old president of the far-right National Rally is battling allegations that he exchanged antisemitic messages as a young activist — accusations he has dismissed as “blatant falsehoods.” The controversy comes at an awkward moment for a party Le Pen has spent years trying to distance from the antisemitism associated with its past. Le Pen has so far backed Bardella, offering her protégé an emphatic public defense. “The system will do anything — including the most disgusting things — to try to hinder this momentum,” she said, sitting next to him as they addressed reporters in the National Assembly Tuesday.