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5d ago

Le Pen Denies ‘System’ in EU Funds Case as Appeal Advances in Paris

A French magistrate says U.S. State Department advisers pressed her about the case in 2025, prompting questions over outside pressure.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, left, walks outside the courtroom during a short break in her appeals trial in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Image
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, member of parliament from the Rassemblement National (National Rally - RN) party, arrives for a hearing in her appeal trial alongside the RN party itself and 10 others defendants found guilty of diverting European Parliament funds, at the Paris courthouse on the Ile de la Cite, in Paris, France, January 20, 2026. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, member of parliament from the Rassemblement National (National Rally - RN) party, arrives for a hearing in her appeal trial alongside the RN party itself and 10 others defendants found guilty of diverting European Parliament funds, at the Paris courthouse on the Ile de la Cite, in Paris, France, January 20, 2026. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Overview

  • Marine Le Pen answered judges’ questions over two days with a softer tone yet reiterated that no organized scheme existed to divert European Parliament funds.
  • Her appeal runs through February 12, with a ruling expected before the summer that will determine whether her five-year ineligibility is lifted before the 2027 election.
  • Le Pen and others were found at first instance to have misappropriated more than €4 million between 2004 and 2016 by using parliamentary assistant contracts for party work, drawing prison terms, fines and an immediate five-year ban for her.
  • French magistrate Magali Lafourcade says State Department adviser Samuel Samson and diplomat Christopher Anderson asked in a May 28, 2025 meeting arranged by the U.S. embassy whether her body could intervene and pressed the notion the case was political; she reported the exchange to France’s foreign ministry.
  • U.S. officials did not immediately comment on her account as French judicial figures decry potential interference, and if Le Pen’s ban stands, National Rally president Jordan Bardella is expected to be the party’s 2027 standard-bearer.