US President Donald Trump and his allies have long backed the right and far right in Europe, a stance made explicit in the US National Security Strategy (NSS) published in December 2025. The document warned of a risk of “civilizational erasure” from migration policies and welcomed the “growing influence of patriotic European parties.”
French magistrate Magali Lafourcade, secretary general of France’s human rights commission (CNCDH), says the Trump administration has also been active behind the scenes. On April 28, 2025, she alerted the French Foreign Ministry to what she saw as foreign interference. Lafourcade says she met US State Department officials Samuel D. Samson and Christopher Anderson during their European tour; media reports say they also met members of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN).
Lafourcade told DW the diplomats sought information about the trial of Marine Le Pen, who had recently been convicted of embezzling EU funds and barred from holding office for five years. If an appeals court upholds the conviction in July, Le Pen would be ineligible for the 2027 presidential race.
“According to the US diplomats, the verdict was politically motivated because Le Pen was in the opposition against President Emmanuel Macron,” Lafourcade said. She replied that Le Pen had been convicted after a 10-year investigation and that bans on candidacy for corruption convictions are normal. Lafourcade said the diplomats pressed as if seeking evidence the trial was unfair. When Samson invoked freedom of expression, she responded that France protects speech except for slander, defamation, hate speech, discrimination and Holocaust denial.
“They said, ‘We are your allies, but for that, Europe must reallow forbidden statements.’ MAGA uses the language of human rights to undermine them,” Lafourcade said.
Trump’s contentious relationship with media and critics has drawn criticism, including restricting journalists’ access to the White House and suing outlets.
Nicolas Conquer, of Republicans Overseas France and founder of The Western Arc — a think tank inspired by MAGA — called claims of interference “slander.” He told DW that concern about the trial was legitimate and said they were merely observers supporting interests shared by Americans and Europeans.
But the French Foreign Ministry has grown cautious about whether US and French interests still align. “We respond to anyone who attacks us — whether from the East or the West,” ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux told DW. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot unveiled a new strategy against foreign interference on January 29, 2025, a week after Trump’s inauguration.
The ministry launched an X account called “French Response” to counter disinformation with irony. Recently it summoned the US ambassador over comments by the Trump administration about the death of a far-right activist in Lyon; the ambassador ignored the summons.
David Colon, a history professor at Sciences Po Paris who studies mass manipulation, said France has Europe’s strongest defenses against information warfare. He pointed to lessons from the 2017 “Macron leaks,” when campaign emails were published online. Colon warned that Europe sits between two big powers and that US conspiracy theorists share goals and tactics with Russia to weaken the EU and push the US away from NATO.
Tara Varma of the German Marshall Fund in Paris described MAGA’s professed affection for Europe as “toxic,” arguing supporters seek to subordinate Europe, deny climate science and oppose minority rights. Maya Kandel, an expert on US foreign policy at Sorbonne Nouvelle University, said the US has conducted a culture war against Europe, especially France, by holding regular meetings with right-wing and far-right French politicians and exporting MAGA ideas through conferences like CPAC and NatCon, with plans to fund affiliated groups abroad.
Lafourcade said France is an obvious target because of its central EU role, nuclear arsenal and permanent UN Security Council seat. “And it wouldn’t take much for the situation to tip,” she warned.
The RN currently leads polls ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
This article was originally published in German.
