A row between Emmanuel Macron’s government and the US ambassador to Paris has deepened after the American envoy ignored a summons to meet the French foreign minister.
Charles Kushner – the father of Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner – had been told to meet Jean-Noel Barrot on Monday evening to explain his recent comments about the killing of a far-right activist in Lyon.
Instead, Mr Kushner said he had a prior engagement and sent a deputy.
An indignant Mr Barrot described the no-show as a “surprise”, adding: “It will, naturally, affect his capacity to exercise his mission in our country.”
The minister also said the US ambassador will not have access to members of the French government until he complies. His ministry accused Kushner of an “apparent failure to grasp the basic requirements of the ambassadorial mission”.
The row began after US comments in social media posts about the death of student Quentin Deranque, 23, who was beaten during a clash between far-right and far-left groups earlier this month.
Following the death, the US state department’s counterterrorism bureau posted on X that “reports, corroborated by the French Minister of the Interior, that Quentin Deranque was killed by left-wing militants, should concern us all”.
It added that “violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque’s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety”.
The US Embassy in Paris posted the same statement in French.
Paris responded by saying it rejected any attempts to use the incident “for political ends”. Mr Barrot insisted France “must have an explanation” of the comments from Mr Kushner, adding: “We don’t accept that foreign countries can come and interfere, invite themselves, into the national political debate.”
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On Saturday, some 3,000 people joined a march in memory of Mr Deranque, 23, whose killing has highlighted deep political tensions in France.
Mr Kushner was previously summoned by French officials last August after his letter alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism.
He did not show up and French officials met with a representative instead.
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The 71-year-old businessman was controversially named US ambassador to France by Donald Trump last year.
In 2020, he was pardoned by Mr Trump after pleading guilty to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations years earlier.
The US president had known Mr Kushner from real estate circles and their children, Ivanka and Jared, married in 2019.
