Exclusive-Le Pen's far-right French party rebuffed US offer of support, sources say

By Gabriel Stargardter and Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) -A U.S. State Department delegation met with senior officials from France's National Rally (RN) in late May, but their offer to publicly support figurehead Marine Le Pen after a court barred her from office was rebuffed by the far-right party, two sources said.

Le Pen, one of the most prominent figures of the European far right, was a frontrunner for the 2027 French presidential election before a court in March banned her from the contest after she was convicted of embezzling EU funds.

U.S. President Donald Trump and other right-wing leaders were quick to rally behind her, alleging political censorship.

The U.S. delegation that visited Paris was led by Samuel Samson, an official at the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). He is part of an influx of young conservatives rising up the ranks of Trump's administration.

Samson met with senior RN officials but Le Pen and her popular No. 2, party president Jordan Bardella, were not present, the two sources said. The aim, one of the sources said, was to discuss ways the Trump administration could offer public support to Le Pen, who wants to overturn her conviction.

However, the offer was declined, the two sources said. The RN officials said an endorsement from Trump's State Department could hurt the party's hopes of winning the 2027 election, one of the sources said. The RN officials also told Samson there was no need to support Le Pen as Bardella stands a good chance of winning if she cannot run, the source said.

A longtime pariah for many in France, Le Pen has worked hard to clean up the image of her eurosceptic nationalist party, pitching it more broadly as a defender of family incomes, jobs and French identity.

A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the meeting took place, but disputed the characterization that an offer for help was rebuffed. The official said RN representatives "indicated the fact that they need to act in their own interest as independent parties".

The RN welcomed Washington's engagement, the official added.

The RN's response is an illustration of how despite areas of ideological proximity, Trump's support is seen as a liability by some European nationalists.

A source close to Le Pen confirmed the meeting, saying "support for our party from a foreign administration isn't exactly something we're accustomed to."

The RN did not respond to a request for comment.

Samson's meeting with RN officials and their rejection of U.S. support have not been reported.

'LAWFARE' CONCERNS

Earlier this month, the DRL said on X that its officials "met with French officials, political parties, and other stakeholders to reaffirm a shared commitment to free speech, democratic choice, and religious freedom ... Echoing (Trump) we are concerned by those in Europe 'using lawfare to silence free speech and censor their political opponent[s].'"

Polls show a majority of French people did not take issue with her ban.

The day before the RN meeting, writing on the State Department's Substack, Samson cited Le Pen's case as evidence that "Europe has devolved into a hotbed of digital censorship, mass migration, restrictions on religious freedom, and numerous other assaults on democratic self-governance."

The State Department official rejected criticism from Trump's opponents that his administration was only concerned about the "censorship" and human rights of far-right figures.

"The unfortunate reality of the current human rights discourse is that it is politicized and it does cherry pick," the official said, adding that the Trump administration was simply trying to "fix" that.

Samson has been the driving force behind a push to support UK anti-abortion protesters, one of the sources said. In March, the DRL wrote on X, he met with anti-abortion activist Livia Tossici-Bolt. She was found guilty in April of breaching an order which banned protest outside a clinic in southern England.

His stated concerns about a European attack on free speech echo those made by U.S. Vice President JD Vance during a bombshell speech in Munich earlier this year.

(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris; additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Editing by Richard Lough and Toby Chopra)