For Sarkozy, ‘takes one to tell one’

The accusations are “grotesque.”

So says the Former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, after he was placed under formal investigation over alleged corruption and taken into police custody. It's the first time this has ever happened in France.

Speaking on French television Wednesday night, Sarkozy denied any wrongdoing and said the case against him is political.

"I'm profoundly shocked at what happened,” Sarkozy said. “I don't require any special privileges. If I have made faults, I will accept all responsibility. I'm not a man that flees responsibility."

Sarkozy is accused of seeking insider information about an inquiry into illegal campaign funding.

But, says Christopher Dickey, foreign editor at the Daily Beast, “it takes one to tell one.”

“He may be right about it having some political motivation,” Dickey told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.

But “Sarkozy is a man who knows all about political manipulation or attempted political manipulation of judges and prosecutors. He used to call them up in the middle of the night when they were making decisions he didn't like when he was president or interior minister.”

Could the scandal threaten what is widely believed to be Sarkozy's political comeback? And who will make the most hay out of the nation's general political disarray?

Click above to watch Amanpour’s full conversation with Dickey.