PARIS—French President Emmanuel Macron’s closest security officer, fired after video showed him beating May Day protesters, defended himself before a Senate inquiry on Sept. 19, saying he was neither a police officer nor a genuine bodyguard.
Alexandre Benalla, whose case erupted into a political scandal, with accusations of unchecked abuses of power in the presidential palace, was questioned for more than two hours about the nature of his job as Macron’s security shadow.
