US officials tried to lobby against Marine Le Pen election ban, French judge says

"A French magistrate has said two Trump administration emissaries approached her seeking to lobby against an election ban on the French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Magali Lafourcade, the secretary general of France's human rights commission (CNCDH), an independent body that advises the government, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) she had reported the content of the meeting to the French foreign ministry immediately, fearing a potential manipulation of the public debate in France."

"Confirming comments she made to France 5 TV, Lafourcade said she had been very surprised by the tenor of her discussion with the US advisers in Paris last May, when they steered the conversation on to French judges' sentencing of Le Pen in 2025 after she was found guilty of the embezzlement of European parliament funds. After a nine-week trial in Paris, judges ruled last March that Le Pen had been at the heart of an extensive and long-running fake jobs scam at the European parliament,"

"Le Pen, 57, who leads the anti-immigration National Rally (RN), had been considered a lead contender for next year's presidential election until her sentence. She also received a four-year prison term, with two years suspended and two to be served outside jail with an electronic bracelet. She was ordered to pay a 100,000 (87,000) fine. Le Pen appealed alongside 10 of the 24 party members who were convicted last year."

Magali Lafourcade, secretary general of France's independent human rights commission (CNCDH), reported a meeting with two US State Department advisers to the French foreign ministry after she perceived attempts to influence French public debate. The advisers, Samuel D Samson and Christopher J Anderson of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), steered the discussion toward French judges' 2025 sentencing of Marine Le Pen. Le Pen was convicted after a nine-week Paris trial for embezzlement tied to a long-running fake jobs scheme at the European Parliament, received a five-year ban from public office, a four-year sentence with part suspended, and a 100,000 fine. Le Pen has appealed and denies wrongdoing.

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