Donald Trump has lashed out at “European Leftists” and demanded that France “free” far-right leader Marine Le Pen. The US President took to Truth Social to brand her ban from running for the presidency in 2027 as a “witch hunt”.
Le Pen, 56, was found guilty of the the embezzlement of European parliamentary funds through a fake jobs scam after a nine-week trial. The far-right figurehead was was handed a four-year prison sentence with two years suspended, to be served under house arrest, and a €100,000 ($108,000) fine by a Paris court on Monday. Her party, National Rally (RN), was also ordered to pay €2 million in fines for the €4.1 million that it was accused of embezzling. Le Pen has been banned from running for political office for five years.
In a post to his social media account, Trump said: “In The Witch Hunt against Marine Le Pen is another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech, and censor their Political Opponent, this time going so far as to put that Opponent in prison.”
The US President went on to claim the French court used the same “playbook” that was applied “against me”, seemingly referring to his hush money trial.
He continued: “I don’t know Marine Le Pen, but do appreciate how hard she worked for so many years. She suffered losses, but kept on going, and now, just before what would be a Big Victory, they get her on a minor charge that she probably knew nothing about – Sounds like a ‘bookkeeping’ error to me.
“It is all so bad for France, and the Great French People, no matter what side they are on. FREE MARINE LE PEN!”
A total of 24 people, including Le Pen, were convicted on Monday with only one defendant acquitted of any wrongdoing. They include eight other European parliament members for RN, 12 people found to have had fictitious contracts as parliamentary assistants, two accountants and the party treasurer.
Le Pen said she will appeal the verdict and argued that the court should not have banned her from running for office. She told the court: “I have absolutely no sense of having committed the slightest irregularity, or the slightest illegal act.”
Le Pen also said a TF1 interview: “If that’s not a political decision, I don’t know what is.” She added: “There are millions of French people who believe in me, millions of French people who trust me.
“For 30 years I’ve been fighting for you, and for 30 years I’ve been fighting against injustice, so I’m going to continue fighting.”