Fillon Fights Charges by Pointing to a Conspiracy: QuickTake Q&A

The presidential campaign of Republican Francois Fillon has been battered by a series of revelations in the French media about his finances. He was charged with graft after it came to light that he’d paid his wife and two of his children to work as legislative aides, though little real work may have been done. Fillon says the practice was perfectly legal, as was his work setting up a meeting between a Lebanese billionaire and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The 63-year-old candidate also admitted, and apologized for, receiving a gift of bespoke suits. He refused to drop out of the race and has claimed the revelations are part of a plot by political opponents to damage his candidacy. Yet the headlines have taken their toll: He’s fallen from favorite to third in the polls.

He accuses Socialist President Francois Hollande of directing a covert operation to meddle with the judicial investigation against him and aiding in the spread of the damaging information. Fillon says Hollande has a “black cabinet” and is pulling the strings of the justice system to accelerate the probe. He calls it “a state scandal.” Hollande denies the theory and said it’s based on “false allegations.” The term “black cabinet” is intended to imply that there is a group of officials within the president’s office engaged in wiretapping and infiltrating the investigation.