PARIS _ France's presidential race took an inflammatory turn late Thursday after candidate Francois Fillon accused President Francois Hollande of directing a covert operation to meddle with the judicial investigation against him and aiding the spread of damaging revelations.
Fillon, the Republican nominee, has been charged with graft and is being investigated for allegedly giving family members no-show jobs paid with public money as well a providing magistrates forged documents.
"I am calling into question the president of the republic," Fillon said in an interview on France 2 television when he was asked about the multiple revelations.
He also asked the French justice system to investigate Hollande, citing a newly released book on the Interior Ministry's practices in recent years, which he says show the sitting president has "a black cabinet" and also show Hollande is meddling with the justice system. Fillon called it "a state scandal."
Uncharacteristically, the French president was inflamed enough by Fillon's statements to fire back within the hour, releasing a statement excoriating Fillon for making "false allegations" and "provoking unbearable trouble" to the presidential campaign.
"The only scandal is not about the state, but about a person who will have to face justice," Hollande said, calling for "dignity, serenity and responsibility."
Fillon, who was the favorite to be France's next head of state less than three months ago, has seen his campaign battered by almost weekly revelations in the newspaper Le Canard Enchaine and other media about his finances. To avoid elimination, he has fought back by turning against Hollande.
Noting that documents seized by investigators in his office at the National Assembly appeared in the press 48 hours later, Fillon questioned who leaked them and suggested only the highest authority could have allowed it.
"I blame the president of the republic," Fillon said.
"I think that's what the government wants: Knowing that they couldn't win this election, he decided to find a way to eliminate the candidate who represents the alternative, the only candidate who represents the alternative," Fillon said on the TV broadcast.
Fillon risks being flushed out of the race in the first round of voting on April 23. If that occurs, it would be the first time that the Republican party fails to advance to the second round since the beginning of direct voting in presidential elections in 1965. National Front leader Marine Le Pen and independent candidate Emmanuel Macron are the most likely to advance to the May 7 runoff, according to all polls since late January.
Fillon's accusation against the Socialist president followed comments a day earlier on France Info radio, when he accused the government of organizing a campaign of leaks about his affairs to weaken his candidacy. Fillon said the "organized leaks" violate the confidentiality of the judicial investigation.
"Who are organizing these? State services," he told France Info, without giving details or proof.
On Thursday, Fillon said on the France 2 TV network that "we were looking for a black cabinet, we found that black cabinet." He was referring to revelations he said were contained in a book titled "Bienvenue Place Beauveau," which was released Thursday.
Place Beauveau is the name given to the Interior Ministry. The term "black cabinet" is intended to imply a shadow organization of officials within Elysee Palace, the president's office, engaged in wiretapping and infiltrating the judicial investigation against him. The book's authors have denied, in interviews on BFM-TV and France Info, that it contains any such revelation.
The Republican candidate was stable in polls Thursday, at 18 percent, before his televised appearance, while Macron rose to 26 percent and Le Pen slipped to 25 percent in the daily survey published by the Paris-based institute Ifop.
Fillon, the 63-year-old former prime minister and lifetime politician, sought to respond to some of the critics about his lifestyle on the television show "L'Emission Politique." He said he returned three bespoke suits that lawyer Robert Bourgi gave him, admitting it was a mistake to accept them as presents.
"I may have committed mistakes, but I'm honest, deeply honest," Fillon said.
Still, Fillon, who is a lawmaker, maintained that his family's employment and his side job in his advisory firm are both legal. His wife, Penelope Fillon, who is a target of the investigation for her alleged fake job as her husband's assistant, was in the audience during the broadcast.
Fillon's candidacy had taken its latest hit this week after Le Canard reported he earned 50,000 euros ($54,000) for fixing connections for Lebanese billionaire Fouad Makhzoumi, including one in 2015 with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Total SA Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne in St. Petersburg, Russia.
"I like a comfortable life, but I can't say to French people _ who live in hardship _ that a lawmaker doesn't earn enough," Fillon said on France 2. When he was asked if he was "exemplary" _ one of his primary campaign promises _ he responded "I try to be."
