US President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind another embattled far-right European leader, backing Marine Le Pen after French presidential hopeful was convicted of embezzlement and barred from political office, reports CNN.
“FREE MARINE LE PEN,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday, calling the court ruling a “Witch Hunt.”
The message is the latest high-profile endorsement from his administration of a far-right party in Europe and comes as Trump upends decades of post-World War Two security guarantees towards the continent with his “America First” foreign and trade policies.
Le Pen’s hopes of becoming France’s president in 2027 were cut short on Monday when a Paris court blocked her from standing for office for five years, after she was found guilty of embezzling European Union funds. The figurehead of the far-right National Rally (RN) party had been seen as the front-runner for the next election, and the ruling has thrown French politics into disarray.
“I don’t know Marine Le Pen, but do appreciate how hard she worked for so many years,” Trump wrote.
“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.”