Donald Trump demands France ‘Free Marine Le Pen’ and brands her presidential election ban a ‘witch hunt’

President Donald Trump had demanded that France ‘free’ presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.

Le Pen, 56, on Monday was convicted of creating fake jobs at the EU parliament and taking advantage of expenses to employ assistants who were actually working for her party in France.

The matriarch of the hard-right National Rally (RN) party was barred from running for office for five years and given a four-year prison sentence, although she will not go to jail as half of it was suspended and the rest will be served with an electronic tag.

In a post to his Truth Social account, Trump wrote: ‘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. 

‘It is the same “playbook” that was used against me by a group of Lunatics and Losers, like Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, and Lisa Monaco. 

‘They spent the last nine years thinking of nothing else, and they FAILED, because the People of the United States realized that they were only Corrupt Lawyers and Politicians. 

‘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!’

Donald Trump is preparing to unveil a slew of new tariffs on Wednesday amid a Senate push to block him from implementing these sanctions on Canada

Marine Le Pen, president of the far-right National Rally (RN) parliamentary group, leaves the National Rally headquarters after the verdict

Monday’s verdict was seen as a hammer blow to Le Pen’s long-held hopes of ascending to the presidency in 2027.

She was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine and her party was docked $2 million – half of which must be paid definitively, while the other half would be demanded in the event of a repeat offence.

Le Pen could appeal her sentence. If her bid fails, she will get a four-year prison sentence – two of which were suspended and two to be served under house arrest.

Twenty-four people, including Le Pen, were convicted – all of them RN party officials or assistants. Only one defendant was acquitted of any wrongdoing.

Le Pen said she will appeal.

She argued the court should not have made her ineligible to run for office until all her chances at appeal had been exhausted, and that by doing so it was clear the court was aiming ‘specifically to prevent’ her from being elected president.

‘If that’s not a political decision, I don’t know what is,’ Le Pen said in the TF1 interview.

She said the ruling marked a ‘fateful day for our democracy’ but vowed to keep pursuing what she called the now ‘admittedly narrow’ path to the presidency.

‘There are millions of French people who believe in me, millions of French people who trust me,’ she added.

‘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.’

She is allowed to keep her seat in the French Parliament.

Earlier this week, Trump compared himself to convicted French presidential candidate, calling her ban from elective office a ‘very big deal.’

calling her ban from elective office a ‘very big deal.’

‘That’s a big deal. That’s a very big deal,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

He expressed sympathy for Le Pen and said her situation ‘sounds very much like this country.’

‘That’s a big deal. That’s a very big deal,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

He expressed sympathy for Le Pen and said her situation ‘sounds very much like this country.’

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