President Donald Trump has jumped to the defense of French conservative leader Marine Le Pen, comparing her legal battles to his own and calling her conviction on embezzlement charges "lawfare" to keep her from winning a "big victory" in the nation's upcoming elections.
"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," Trump posted on Truth Social late Thursday night.
"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," Trump continued. "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."
Trump added that he does not know Le Pen, but he does "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!"
Le Pen, the parliamentary leader of France's populist National Rally party and a dominant force on the country's political right, was given a four-year sentence this week.
She will not be behind bars, as the sentence was split to include two years of house arrest and two years being suspended, but she is blocked from seeking political office for five years, meaning she can't run for election in 2027.
Earlier this week, Trump also came out in Le Pen's defense, saying that her ban on running for office "sounds very much like this country."
She was also fined 100,000 Euros, or $108,000 USD.
Le Pen is the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was the founder of her party. At that time it was known as the National Front.
Elon Musk also spoke out earlier this week against Le Pen's sentence, posting on X that "when the radical left can't win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents," reports CNN.
The Trump administration has also spoken out against court decisions on other European politicians, including a court's ruling to hold the Romanian presidential election after a right-wing candidate won the race.
The initial election's results were voided after intelligence reports revealed possible Russian interference in Calin Georgescu's win. The race will be held again in May, but Georgescu is banned from running.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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