Former U.S. president Obama endorses Macron in French campaign

Former U.S. President Barack Obama endorsed centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron for France’s presidential election to be held on Sunday. Obama in a video message, praised Macron for appealing “to people’s hopes and not their fears”. “The French election is very important to the future of France and the values that we care so much about,” […]

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Also, Like us on facebook</s>PARIS (AFP) - Former United States President Barack Obama endorsed Mr Emmanuel Macron for the French presidency, praising the centrist frontrunner's "liberal values" in a video posted on Thursday (May 4) on the candidate's website.

Mr Macron has "stood up for liberal values (and) put forward a vision for the important role that France plays in Europe and around the world," Mr Obama says in the video, adding: "He appeals to people's hopes and not their fears.</s>Another political campaign has been hit by an email dump. This time, the target is French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron.

On Friday, his campaign said a massive and coordinated hack had breached the email inboxes of several staffers. This came after a mysterious user named “EMLEAKS” apparently dumped the stolen data through torrent files on text storage site Pastebin.

It’s unclear if the information in the dump is genuine. Allegedly, the dump contains a 9GB trove of emails and photos. The torrent files, which were hosted on Archive.org, are no longer available there.

But Macron’s campaign said the leaked files have been spreading over social media as the country prepares to vote for a new president on Sunday.

The incident occurred just months after hackers targeted the campaign of U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by stealing staffers’ emails and then leaking them online.

The U.S. has blamed those hacks on Russian state-sponsored cyberspies, claiming they were tasked with damaging Clinton’s election chances.

Who was behind the Macron hack is still unknown. However, last month security firm Trend Micro said it uncovered evidence that Russian cyberspies were also targeting Macron’s campaign, possibly through email phishing attempts designed to trick users into visiting malicious internet links.

The cyberspies did so by registering several internet addresses that spoofed Macron’s campaign site. One of those internet addresses was named onedrive-en-marche.fr, which appears similar to the campaign’s official domain at en-marche.fr.

Reportedly, Macron’s campaign confirmed the intrusion attempts last week but said they hadn't succeeded.

On Friday, Macron’s campaign said the hacking and leaking of files were designed to destabilize France’s democratic processes.

The U.S. government has claimed Russia plans to interfere with European elections this year, but the Kremlin has denied sponsoring such hacks.

Both the FBI and the U.S. National Security Agency have been working with their counterparts in Europe to help stop similar election-tampering efforts allegedly from Russia. If the hack reported Friday was real, those efforts may have fallen short.</s>French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has been the victim of a “massive and coordinated hacking operation,” his campaign team said, slamming the attack as a last-ditch attempt to undermine him before Sunday’s election.

The document dump happened Friday night, less than 48 hours before the country votes in the final round of the presidential election, which pits the independent centrist Macron against the far-right Marine Le Pen.

The files were released just before 2 p.m. ET Friday, around four hours before the election campaign period officially closed with its restrictions on campaigning, reporting and polling. These restrictions are aimed at preventing last-minute scandals from emerging and influencing the election’s outcome.

Around 14.5 gigabytes of emails, personal and business documents were posted to the text-sharing site Pastebin through links to more than 70,000 files, a CNN look at the data shows.

Officials from Macron’s En Marche! party said in a statement that the perpetrators of the hack had mixed fake documents with authentic ones “to create confusion and misinformation.”

“The leak happened in the last hours of the campaign. This operation is clearly meant to undermine democracy, just like what happened in the US during the last presidential campaign,” the statement read.

US intelligence officials have said Russia meddled in the November elections, and Congress is investigating the allegations. Russia has denied any interference.

En Marche! said that some of the files circulating were obtained several weeks ago after personal and professional email accounts were hacked.

It was not clear who was behind the document dump, but the hack targeting Macron’s campaign used methods similar to the suspected Russian hacks of the Democratic National Committee last year in United States, according to a report issued in April by cybersecurity researchers.

Donald Trump won the election after information from Hillary Clinton’s campaign was released before the vote.

If successful Sunday, Macron, at 39, would become the youngest president in the history of France and the nation’s youngest leader since Napoleon.

He has led a remarkable campaign, defying the traditional mainstream parties courtesy of his En Marche! movement. For many, however, the campaign has become less about backing Macron and instead about voting against Le Pen, the National Front candidate.

French President François Hollande, Republican candidate François Fillon and the Socialist Party’s Benoit Hamon have come together to back Macron, claiming a Le Pen presidency would be disastrous for France.

But Macron also has his critics, who see him as an elite out of touch with the public.

A former economy minister who made millions as an investment banker, Macron has been attacked from both the left and the right for his perceived arrogance.

But two polls released Friday, before polling restrictions went into effect, suggested he still held a 20-point lead.

When asked whether Russia was involved in the Macron email hack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “These, like other similar accusations, are based on nothing and are pure slander.”

Russian officials have vehemently denied interfering in elections and have said they have no preferred candidate in the French vote.

Macron’s party chief, Richard Ferrand, accused Russia of trying to influence the election by spreading “fake news” about the candidate through its state-controlled media while reporting more favorably on Le Pen.

Her anti-Europe and anti-NATO stance are perfectly aligned with Russian interests, and she has consistently called for closer ties with President Vladimir Putin.

She has also expressed a desire to roll back European Union sanctions on Russia after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, which she has described as “unfair and silly.”

It is a stance that contrasts markedly with Macron, a pro-EU, pro-integration candidate who has said he would keep sanctions on Russia in place, if not add to them.</s>French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has been the victim of a “massive and coordinated hacking operation,” his campaign team said, slamming the attack as a last-ditch attempt to undermine him before Sunday’s election.

The document dump happened Friday night, less than 48 hours before the country votes in the final round of the presidential election, which pits the independent centrist Macron against the far-right Marine Le Pen.

The files were released just before 2 p.m. ET Friday, around four hours before the election campaign period officially closed with its restrictions on campaigning, reporting and polling. These restrictions are aimed at preventing last-minute scandals from emerging and influencing the election’s outcome.

Around 14.5 gigabytes of emails, personal and business documents were posted to the text-sharing site Pastebin through links to more than 70,000 files, a CNN look at the data shows.

Officials from Macron’s En Marche! party said in a statement that the perpetrators of the hack had mixed fake documents with authentic ones “to create confusion and misinformation.”

“The leak happened in the last hours of the campaign. This operation is clearly meant to undermine democracy, just like what happened in the US during the last presidential campaign,” the statement read.

US intelligence officials have said Russia meddled in the November elections, and Congress is investigating the allegations. Russia has denied any interference.

En Marche! said that some of the files circulating were obtained several weeks ago after personal and professional email accounts were hacked.

It was not clear who was behind the document dump, but the hack targeting Macron’s campaign used methods similar to the suspected Russian hacks of the Democratic National Committee last year in United States, according to a report issued in April by cybersecurity researchers.

Donald Trump won the election after information from Hillary Clinton’s campaign was released before the vote.

If successful Sunday, Macron, at 39, would become the youngest president in the history of France and the nation’s youngest leader since Napoleon.

He has led a remarkable campaign, defying the traditional mainstream parties courtesy of his En Marche! movement. For many, however, the campaign has become less about backing Macron and instead about voting against Le Pen, the National Front candidate.

French President François Hollande, Republican candidate François Fillon and the Socialist Party’s Benoit Hamon have come together to back Macron, claiming a Le Pen presidency would be disastrous for France.

But Macron also has his critics, who see him as an elite out of touch with the public.

A former economy minister who made millions as an investment banker, Macron has been attacked from both the left and the right for his perceived arrogance.

But two polls released Friday, before polling restrictions went into effect, suggested he still held a 20-point lead.

When asked whether Russia was involved in the Macron email hack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “These, like other similar accusations, are based on nothing and are pure slander.”

Russian officials have vehemently denied interfering in elections and have said they have no preferred candidate in the French vote.

Macron’s party chief, Richard Ferrand, accused Russia of trying to influence the election by spreading “fake news” about the candidate through its state-controlled media while reporting more favorably on Le Pen.

Her anti-Europe and anti-NATO stance are perfectly aligned with Russian interests, and she has consistently called for closer ties with President Vladimir Putin.

She has also expressed a desire to roll back European Union sanctions on Russia after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, which she has described as “unfair and silly.”

It is a stance that contrasts markedly with Macron, a pro-EU, pro-integration candidate who has said he would keep sanctions on Russia in place, if not add to them.</s>“A large trove of emails from the campaign of French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron was posted online late on Friday, one and a half days before voters go to the polls to choose the country’s next president in a run-off against far-right rival Marine Le Pen,” Reuters reports.



BBC: “The campaign said that genuine files were mixed up with fake ones in order to confuse people. It said that it was clear the hackers wanted to undermine Mr Macron ahead of Sunday’s second round vote.”</s>With France's presidential election just a day away, the frontrunner, Emmanuel Macron, said his campaign has been hit by a "massive" cyber attack.

Macron is the centrist candidate facing far-right Marine Le Pen in the landmark election. His campaign said a mix of authentic and fake documents were put on social media to sow "doubt and misinformation" and undermine Macron ahead of the election, according to reports.

As much as nine gigabytes of data including emails were posted on a website that allows anonymous document sharing. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for posting the data, but suspicion has fallen to Russia after it allegedly interfered in the US election.

Macron's former economy minister previously complained about attempts to hack the campaign's emails, blaming Russian interests in part for the attacks. The team said an attempted cyber attack was made on April 26, but no information was stolen.

Russia has denied it was behind any such attack, according to Reuters.

A ban on campaigning took effect at midnight yesterday ahead of voters heading to the polls Sunday.

The latest survey shows Macron winning with about 62 per cent of the vote.

Read more: Macron poll lead widens as Le Pen tries to boost bid for French Presidency</s>French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron's campaign team says it has been the target of a "massive and coordinated" hacking attack.

His campaign said in a statement late Friday night that some campaign emails and financial documents were hacked a few weeks ago and are now being circulated on social media, but that they have been mixed with false documents.

It said whoever is behind the leaked documents is trying to "seed doubt and disinformation" and destabilise Sunday's presidential runoff.

Macron's campaign team compared it to emails leaked from Hillary Clinton's US presidential campaign.</s>The campaign team of French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron said on Friday night it had been the victim of a "massive hacking attack" after a trove of documents was released online.

The apparent hack came on the final day of campaigning in the French presidential election, with Mr Macron, the centrist, facing Marine Le Pen, the far-Right candidate in tomorrow's run-off.

Campaign officials stated authentic documents had been mixed on social media with fake ones to sow "doubt and misinformation" and that it was a clear attempt to undermine Mr Macron.

"The En Marche! Movement has been the victim of a massive and co-ordinated hack this evening which has given rise to the diffusion on social media of various internal information," Mr Macron's "En Marche!" (Onwards!) party said in a statement.</s>ALBI, France -- Fake news and accusations of hacking attempts dominated France's tense presidential campaign Thursday with just two days left for independent Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen to win over voters before Sunday's runoff.

Paris prosecutors began a preliminary investigation Thursday into whether fake news is being used to influence the election as the two candidates campaigned in opposite parts of the country.

There has been intense anxiety in France over the possibility that viral misinformation or hackers could influence the presidential vote, as in the U.S. election last year. Those fears had largely failed to materialize.

Then Thursday, Macron filed suit against unknown source "X" after Le Pen suggested during their only one-on-one debate Wednesday night that the former banker could have an offshore account.

"I hope we won't find out you have an offshore account in the Bahamas," Le Pen said.

She appeared to be referring to two sets of apparent forgeries, published just hours before their heated showdown, that purported to show Macron was somehow involved with a Caribbean bank and a firm based on the island of Nevis.

Macron's camp said the former investment banker was victim of a "cyber-misinformation campaign." Speaking on France Inter radio, Macron blamed Le Pen for spreading "fake news" and said he never held a bank account "in any tax haven whatsoever."

"All this is factually inaccurate," Macron said.

Also Thursday, Le Pen's campaign said a hacker confessed to repeatedly targeting its website. The statement, released Thursday, gave few details about the seriousness of the interference, which could range from attempts at defacing the website to flooding it with bogus traffic. The campaign said the arrest took place this week.

On the campaign trail, Macron visited disgruntled workers Thursday at a glass factory in Albi near the southern city of Toulouse before holding his last campaign rally in which he called on voters from the left and the right to choose his pro-European platform.

Macron arrived to booing and slogan-shouting from dozens of protesting workers. But after 15 minutes of talking, he managed to calm some of their anger.

Union leader Michel Parraud called Macron "very kind and very polite," although he said he didn't think the pro-business centrist would do much for factory workers.

Macron pledged to "give strength back to the country" and "build a more efficient and fair society," speaking from an open-air stage in Albi's central square.

Le Pen, who spent Thursday in a small northern French village, quickly backed away from the suggestion that Macron might have an offshore account, but prosecutors soon opened an investigation into suspicions of forgery and the spreading of false news in order to divert votes.

The metadata embedded in the document suggested it was created just before being posted online, undermining the anonymous poster's claim to have circulated the documents to "hundreds of French journalists" who had "all sat on this."

There are hints tying the faked documents to far-right circles in California. One document purports to have been drawn up under the laws of Nevis but actually draws some of its language from a guide to forming limited liability companies in California. The documents first appeared on Mixtape, a relatively new northern California-based file-sharing service.

The Macron campaign identified the first tweet referring to the documents as coming from the Twitter account of Nathan Damigo, a far-right activist and convicted felon based in northern California. Damigo is known on social media for punching a female anti-fascist in the face at a Berkeley protest.

In an exchange on Twitter, Damigo said he had nothing to do with the apparent forgery, saying he "just stumbled upon it and figured it would be interesting to share."

He added: "I am glad it is now being talked about."

In a fiery speech in northern France, Le Pen made an emotional appeal to farmers, the jobless and the disillusioned.

Painting herself as the "voice of the people," she said her rival would continue the painful status quo.

Thousands of supporters climbed on hay bales and packed onto a field in the northern village of Ennemain to hear her speak, chanting, "We love you Marine" and "Marine President!"

Gaelle Vincent, 35, wore a French flag in her hair to hear Le Pen speak.

"People think little villages like us vote National Front because we don't like Arabs and are racist," Vincent said. "We're not racist. We have to preserve our land and our values."

Macron, meanwhile, got support from across the ocean.

In a message posted Thursday on Macron's Twitter account, former U.S. President Barack Obama said he was endorsing the centrist candidate "because of how important this election is."

"The French election is very important to the future of France and the values that we care so much about," Obama said. "I have admired the campaign that Emmanuel Macron has run. He has stood up for liberal values. He put forward the vision for the important role that France plays in Europe and around the world. And he has committed to a better future for French people."

Information for this article was contributed by Thomas Adamson, Angela Charlton and Samuel Petrequin of The Associated Press.
Files purportedly from the campaign of Emmanuel Macron are posted online. Macron campaign officials say the files are a mix of fake and authentic documents and drew parallels with what happened in the 2016 US Presidential elections.