US President Donald Trump has described the criminal conviction of French opposition leader Marine Le Pen as “a very big deal,” drawing parallels with his own legal battles under the Biden administration.
Le Pen, the former leader of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, was sentenced to four years in prison, two of which are suspended, and barred from holding public office for five years.
The embezzlement conviction effectively ends her hopes of contesting the 2027 French presidential race.
Le Pen, known for her controversial anti-Muslim stance, was accused of embezzling European Union funds intended for her staff’s work in the European Parliament.
Prosecutors claim she diverted the funds to support her party’s activities in France, but Le Pen has denied the charges, calling the verdict “a fatal day for our democracy.”
In a conversation with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump expressed surprise at the conviction, saying, “I know all about it, and a lot of people thought she wasn’t going to be convicted of anything.”
He went on to note that Le Pen’s five-year ban from running for office mirrored his own experiences, stating, “But she was prohibited from running for five years, and she’s the leading candidate. That sounds very much like this country.”
Trump has frequently characterised the legal challenges against him as politically motivated, labelling them a “witch hunt” orchestrated by the Biden administration and the Democrats.
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