Rachida Dati to Patrick Cohen on "C à vous": "Are you harassing your colleagues?" Cohen to Dati: "What you're doing is dishonorable."

The segment lasts nearly five minutes, and the tension is building. A guest on the C à vous program this Wednesday, June 18, the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, was questioned by journalist Patrick Cohen about her ties with the GDF Suez group.

Based on a Mediapart investigation published at the beginning of June, the journalist questioned Rachida Dati, particularly about the accusations against her regarding her possible links with the gas group.

On June 5, a joint investigation by Le Nouvel Observateur and Complément d'enquête claimed that the minister had received €299,000 in fees from the gas company , with supporting documents. The Minister of Culture, who is also under investigation for passive corruption in the Carlos Ghosn affair , has always denied any contractual relationship with the French gas group , renamed Engie in 2015, and has staunchly denied any conflict of interest.

"These are fees that were found in an accounting system [...]. All of that was scanned. I have never seen a lawyer operating illegally, illegal invoices, or illegal accounting. All of that is known, declared, and has been fully validated ," the Minister of Culture initially justified herself on the France 5 set, multiplying arguments to demonstrate her good faith. "I have never had a tax adjustment or a tax or financial problem. All of that has been declared," she insisted to Patrick Cohen.

Fees "validated by the European Parliament" ? the journalist asks, his expression circumspect. This is the last straw for Rachida Dati. While a gourmet dinner is being prepared in the background—a tradition at the end of a show on C à vous —the atmosphere around the table turns sour. "Are you a magistrate? It's not to you that I should answer if I have to answer. My case is closed," the minister retorts.

As doubts haunt Cohen, the former Minister of Justice begins her indictment: "Mr. Cohen, a Mediapart investigation has implicated you in harassment and toxic management. A Mediapart investigation that came to light very recently," the minister continues, elbows on the table, eyes fixed on her interlocutor's.

"Is that true ? Do you harass your colleagues? Are you unpleasant to the people you work with? This was stated in a Mediapart investigation ," Rachida Dati repeats. "You are accused of harassment. Is that true, Mr. Cohen? Can you answer me? "

The Minister of Culture is referring to an investigation published on February 3 by the investigative website targeting the political columnist and his return to France Inter. The authors collected nearly twenty testimonies from employees of the public radio station. " All of them admit to having been victims, or witnesses, of Patrick Cohen's managerial brutality. Some witnesses believe that the facts described could amount to moral harassment," reports Mediapart in its article.

Faced with Rachida Dati's repeated attacks, Patrick Cohen defends himself: "I have not been accused of harassment." "It's a crime, Mr. Cohen," Rachida Dati replies bluntly. Next to the minister, presenter Anne-Elisabeth Lemoine takes the blow, before attempting a sweet "Madam Minister...". Not enough to stop the minister's verve.

Launched, Rachida Dati shifts into second gear and turns to the talk show boss. "Ms. Lemoine, a Mediapart investigation has been opened. In the same way that it has been said that at C à vous , the atmosphere is appalling, that you cry all day, that everyone is blamed. Is that true?" she asks, referring to an article in Marianne published in April which mentioned "humiliation and jealousy" within the team. "No, that's false," replies the host, quite distraught.

"Unlike you, I gave answers," boasts Rachida Dati before looking back at Patrick Cohen: "I would feel very sorry for your colleagues who were harassed. I have made it a criminal policy, the fight against harassment." And to don his old costume as Minister of Justice to warn him (threaten him?): "You could also fall under this offense. All I would have to do is write an article 40 to denounce (sic) following this Mediapart article . I can do it."

"I invite you to do so," Cohen bravadoes. "No one has been contacted, either by the courts or internally by Radio France […]. What you're doing isn't very flattering, it's dishonorable," the disconcerted morning presenter exclaims, his voice blank.

A few hours earlier, at breakfast time, on France Inter , Patrick Cohen had dedicated his editorial of the day to the Minister of Culture, attacking her project of a holding company for public broadcasting, castigating a "disastrous idea." At dinner time, the minister and the morning man finally met again and the rag burned.