US President Donald Trump has described an embezzlement case against Marine Le Pen as a “witch hunt”.
It comes as the French far-right leader called for protests this weekend over her conviction.
Ms Le Pen was handed a five-year ban on running for office after a court found her and two dozen figures from her National Rally (RN) party guilty of embezzling EU funds.
The conviction will prevent her from running in the 2027 presidential election, where she was hoping to unseat President Emmanuel Macron.
In a Truth Social post late on Thursday, Mr Trump praised Ms Le Pen and added: “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.”
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Mr Trump also compared her situation to his own. Mr Trump was convicted in a New York court over covering up “hush money” payment to a porn star, and also faced a number of other charges that were dropped following his 2024 election win.
Ms Le Pen was also given a four-year jail sentence, with two years suspended, and two which will be served with an electronic tag. She is not expected to serve any jail time.
She also received a €100,000 (£83,635) fine. She will make an appeal against her conviction, her lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut later said.
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In the days following her conviction, Ms Le Pen and her allies have attacked the “tyranny of judges”, accusing her trial judges of interfering in democracy.
The lead judge has since had to get police protection following death threats, which Mr Macron said were “unbearable and intolerable”.
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Ms Le Pen has called for a peaceful mass protest in Paris on Sunday, which will give an indication of how much popular support there is for her claims of a democratic crisis.
However, polls suggest a majority of French people don’t see any problem with the court’s decision.
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Polling expert Gael Sliman said: “They can’t go too far in attacking judges, especially if they want to broaden their appeal. Some of their voters are not anti-establishment.”
“You can’t steal $4m like that from people. The verdict was fair,” Francoise Bellis, a 77-year old pensioner from Toulon said. She laughed when she heard Russia saying the verdict had “killed democracy” in France.
“That’s really the pot calling the kettle black,” she added.
