By NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY and SYLVIE CORBET

PARIS (AP) — Ten people went on trial on Monday accused of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron after they allegedly made “malicious” comments online spreading claims that President Emmanuel Macron ‘s wife is a man.

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Brigitte Macron did not show up at the two-day trial in Paris that started on Monday afternoon.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said the eight men and two women are accused of spreading “numerous malicious comments” online about the first lady’s gender and “sexuality” and of mentioning the age gap with her husband as “pedophilia.” Seven of the defendants were in court Monday, while three others were being represented by their lawyers.

Some of the defendants, aged between 41 and 60, are very active on social media, with posts sometimes accumulating tens of thousands of views.

Delphine Jegousse, 51, known as Amandine Roy, who describes herself as a medium and an author, is considered as having played a major role in spreading the rumor after she released a 4-hour video on her YouTube channel in 2021.

Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoé Sagan on social media, has seen his X account suspended last year after his name was cited in several judicial investigations.

Others include an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist.

The chief judge said they are all accused of cyberbullying the first lady, which led to “a deterioration of her physical and mental health.”

The Macrons have for years been dogged by conspiracy theories that Brigitte was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux, who supposedly then took the name Brigitte as a transgender woman. Jean-Michel Trogneux is the name of Brigitte’s brother.

The two-day trial in Paris comes after the Macrons filed a defamation suit in July in a Delaware court as their lawyer said they’ll be seeking “substantial” damages from U.S. conservative influencer Candace Owens if she persists with claims that Brigitte is a man.

Owens is a right-leaning political commentator whose YouTube channel has about 4.5 million subscribers. In 2024, she was denied a visa from New Zealand and Australia, citing remarks in which she denied Nazi medical experimentation on Jews in concentration camps during World War II.

A verdict in the Paris case will likely be issued at a later date.

In September 2024, Brigitte and Jean-Michel Trogneux won a defamation suit against Jegousse and another woman who were sentenced by a Paris court to fines and damages for spreading the claims about the first lady online. A Paris appeals court overturned the ruling in July. Brigitte and her brother have since turned to France’s highest court to appeal that decision.

The Macrons, who have been married since 2007, first met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. Brigitte Macron, 24 years her husband’s senior, was then called Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three.

Emmanuel Macron, 47, has been France’s president since 2017.

A gunman was sentenced to nearly five years in prison Monday for a 2023 robbery at a St. Paul park and a June shooting that wounded three at a downtown pool party.

Tyson Joseph Volk (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Tyson Joseph Volk, 20, received his sentence in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to the two cases in August. Three counts of attempted second-degree murder filed in the shooting were dismissed as part of a plea deal he reached with the prosecution.

According to court records, Volk was out on bond in the robbery case when he fired a 9 mm handgun nine times on June 21 at the rooftop pool at Kellogg Square apartments at Kellogg Boulevard and Robert Street.

The shooting was fueled by a physical fight a month earlier between Volk and a 23-year-old man, the criminal complaint said.

On the rooftop, Volk and another man approached the 23-year-old, who then punched Volk. Volk stumbled backward, pulled out a gun and started firing.

The man was struck in the knee, while a 20-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the pelvis. A 16-year-old boy was hit in the ankle.

Marquez Demar Hill-Turnipseed then fired shots toward Volk, according to a complaint charging the 23-year-old with possession of a firearm by a person who was ineligible due to a conviction of a crime of violence.

Earlier cases

Less than three weeks earlier, on June 1, Hill-Turnipseed allegedly fired a barrage of bullets from a Dodge Challenger into several groups of people at Boom Island Park along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, a shooting that killed 23-year-old Stageina Whiting and wounded four men.

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Hill-Turnipseed, of Minneapolis, was charged under a sealed complaint with aiding and abetting murder and other counts. He was arrested in early July in Chicago.

Both cases against him are pending.

In Volk’s robbery case, a 19-year-old man told St. Paul police he went to Weida Park in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood to smoke marijuana with two acquaintances just after midnight Oct. 2, 2023.

He said Volk pulled out a handgun, pointed it at his face and then pistol-whipped him while a juvenile recorded the incident on a cellphone. He was robbed of his iPhone, clothes and Nike Air Force shoes. Police found two videos of the robbery on Volk’s phone.

The return of “White Christmas” marks the end of an era for Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.

Michael Brindisi, CDT’s longtime president and artistic director, died unexpectedly in February, just two days before the company opened its production of “Grease.” He oversaw the successful debut of “White Christmas” last year and had already made the decision to bring it back for an encore.

The current program lists Brindisi as “original artistic director” of the show and it includes his original director’s note, written in October 2024: “There are a lot of veteran performers and designers who have worked on our play … on more than a few occasions, I’ve heard the exclamation from many, including yours truly, ‘I’m getting too old for this.’ … We should all keep doing what we love for as long as we can, but when we can’t, that’s OK too. Just count your blessings and you’ll be all right!”

In many ways, “White Christmas” shows off CDT’s strength as a song-and-dance powerhouse. For two and a half hours, the cast and crew made magic on that stage, offering a welcome dose of escapism into a much less complicated time.

The musical is based on the 1954 film of the same name, which also happened to be the highest grossing film of that year. It was constructed around Irving Berlin’s song “White Christmas,” which he wrote for 1942’s “Holiday Inn.” The track was such a massive hit — Bing Crosby’s version sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide — Berlin wrote a new batch of numbers to accompany it for a new movie. (The stage version debuted in 2004 and added Berlin’s name to the official title.)

As is to be expected under such circumstances, the plot is paper thin. It follows World War II vets Bob Wallace (Michael Gruber) and Phil Davis (Tony Vierling) who’ve become popular entertainers. They meet sisters and fellow performers Betty (Ann Michels) and Judy Haynes (Andrea Mislan) and propose a collaboration, both on stage and off.

Really, the story exists merely to connect the songs, which — if you’re allergic to holiday music like me — thankfully aren’t all Christmas numbers. And the dynamic choreography by Tamara Kangas Erickson (who has since taken over as CDT’s leader) injects true glee into the proceedings. Don’t be late returning from intermission, lest you miss the show’s highlight, the eye-popping, toe-tapping “I Love a Piano.”

The show remains every bit as exciting and fun as it was last year and, beyond a few new faces in the ensemble, the biggest change is Kersten Rodau, who replaces Brindisi’s wife Michelle Barber. (Barber is currently starring in a production of “Come from Away” at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida, where their daughter Cat is associate artistic director.)

Barber is usually one of the best things about CDT productions, but Rodau does a fine job in the broadly comic role of Martha Watson, who runs a struggling Vermont hotel owned by Wallace and Davis’ wartime boss General Henry Waverly (Joenathan Thomas, who has both the presence and the voice of an actual general).

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Two young performers — Jenalia Valerio and Malle Cenizal — return to swap nights playing Waverly’s granddaughter Susan, a character that brings a sweet sense of innocence with a dash of determination to the show.

Sweet is a great way to describe “White Christmas” as a whole. Audiences love it, as like last year, many of the performances leading up to Christmas are already sold out. Plenty of seats remain for the January shows and given what a delight it is, “White Christmas” is worth seeing even after the candy canes and ornaments are packed away. Brindisi’s final CDT production is a real gift.

‘Irving Berlin’s White Christmas’

When: Through Feb. 7
Where: Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, 501 W. 78th St., Chanhassen
Tickets: $131-$98 via 952-934-1525 or chanhassendt.com
Capsule: Like last year, “White Christmas” is both merry and bright.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday confirmed the names of five candidates to replace Jerome Powell as chair of the powerful Federal Reserve next year.

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On an Air Force One flight to Asia with President Donald Trump, Bessent said he would engage in a second round of interviews in the coming weeks and present a “good slate” of candidates to Trump “right after Thanksgiving.” Trump said he expected to decide on Powell’s replacement by the end of this year.

The five people under consideration are: Federal Reserve governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman; former Fed governor Kevin Warsh; White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett; and Rick Rieder, senior managing director at asset manager BlackRock.

The names suggest that no matter who is picked, there will likely be big changes coming to the Federal Reserve next year. Bessent, who is leading the search for Powell’s replacement, last month published extensive criticisms of the Fed and some of the policies it has pursued from the Great Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 to the pandemic.

Trump on Monday, meanwhile, repeated his long-standing attacks on Powell, charging that he has been too slow to cut interest rates.

“We have a person that’s not at all smart right now,” Trump said, referring to Powell. “He should have been much lower, much sooner.” The Fed is expected to lower its key rate Wednesday for the second time this year.

Trump’s goal of selecting a new chair by the end of this year could reflect some of the tricky elements surrounding Powell’s status. His term as chair ends next May, but he could remain on the Fed’s board as one of seven governors until January 2028, an unusual but not entirely unprecedented step. Such a move would deprive Trump of an opportunity to nominate another governor for several years.

Still, current governor Stephen Miran was appointed by Trump Sept. 16 to finish an unexpired term that ends next Jan. 31. Trump could nominate his candidate to replace Powell for that seat, and then elevate that person to chair in May after Powell steps down.

Hassett is currently the chair of the National Economic Council at the White House and was also a top Trump adviser in the president’s first term, and a frequent defender of the administration’s policies on television. His longtime loyalty to the president could give him an edge, some Fed watchers say.

Warsh is a former economic advisor in the George W. Bush administration and was appointed to the Fed’s governing board in 2006 at age 35, making him the youngest Fed governor in history. He left the board in 2011. Warsh is now a fellow at the Hoover Institution and a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Waller was appointed to the Fed by Trump in 2020, and quickly established himself as an independent voice. He began pushing for rate cuts in July and dissented at that meeting in favor of a quarter-point cut, when the Fed decided to leave its key rate unchanged. But he voted to reduce rates just a quarter-point in September, along with 10 other Fed officials, while Miran dissented in favor of a half-point.

Michelle Bowman is the Fed’s vice chair of supervision, making her the nation’s top banking regulator. She was appointed by Trump in 2018, and before that was Kansas’ state bank commissioner. Bowman also dissented in favor a rate cut in July, then voted with her colleagues last month for a quarter-point reduction.

Rieder has the most financial markets experience of any of the candidates and has worked for Wall Street firms since 1987. Rieder joined BlackRock in 2009. His focus is in fixed income and he oversees the management of roughly $2.4 trillion in assets.

Bessent has set out a wide-ranging critique of the Fed while interviewing for Powell’s replacement. In particular, he has criticized the central bank for continuing unconventional policies, such as purchasing Treasury bonds in order to lower longer-term interest rates, long after after such steps were justified, in his view, by emergency conditions.

“It is essential the Fed commit to scaling back its distortionary impact on markets,” Bessent wrote. “It also likely requires an honest, independent, and nonpartisan review of the entire institution and all of its activities.”

Bessent’s criticisms aren’t entirely new, but they have gained greater traction in the wake of the 2021-22 inflation surge. The Fed is mandated by Congress to seek stable prices as well as maximum employment.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, left, speaks to reporters as President Donald Trump, right, listens aboard Air Force One while traveling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Bessent’s critiques have also inevitably been tangled up with Trump’s insistent calls for lower interest rates, which have threatened the Fed’s independence from day-to-day politics. Trump has also taken the unprecedented step of trying to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, a Biden appointee, to open another seat on the board for him to fill.

Cook has sued to keep her seat and the Supreme Court has allowed Cook to remain on the board while it considers the case.

Trump’s attacks on the central bank have left some longtime Fed critics skeptical of the Trump administration’s approach.

Peter Conti-Brown, a Fed historian and professor of financial regulation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, cautioned against placing “loyalists” on the Fed “who are there to push the president’s narrative.”

“Those are the ones that we want as his advisers and spokespeople and his lawyers, not his central bankers,” he said.