France has begun pushing back against what officials describe as growing U.S. involvement with Europe’s right and far right, a trend made explicit in the U.S. National Security Strategy published in December 2025. The document warned of a supposed risk of “civilizational erasure” from migration policies and welcomed the rising influence of “patriotic European parties.”
French magistrate Magali Lafourcade, secretary general of the country’s national human rights commission (CNCDH), says the Trump administration has also been active behind the scenes. On April 28, 2025, she notified the French Foreign Ministry about what she believes was foreign interference after meeting two U.S. State Department officials, Samuel D. Samson and Christopher Anderson, during their European tour. Media reports say the diplomats also held talks with figures from the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN).
Lafourcade told German broadcaster DW that the U.S. diplomats sought information about the trial of Marine Le Pen, who was recently convicted of embezzling EU funds and barred from holding office for five years. If an appeals court upholds that conviction in July, Le Pen would be ineligible to run in France’s 2027 presidential election.
According to Lafourcade, the visitors suggested the verdict was politically motivated because Le Pen opposed President Emmanuel Macron. She pushed back, noting that the conviction followed a decade-long investigation and that bans on candidacy for corruption convictions are normal. She said the diplomats pressed her as if looking for proof the process was unfair. When Samson cited freedom of expression, Lafourcade responded that France protects speech but prohibits slander, defamation, hate speech, discrimination and Holocaust denial.
“They said, ‘We are your allies, but for that, Europe must reallow forbidden statements,'” Lafourcade said, adding that MAGA rhetoric often repackages human rights language to weaken protections.
The Trump administration’s combative posture toward media and critics in the U.S. — including restricting journalistic access to the White House and pursuing lawsuits against outlets — has drawn scrutiny and fed concerns about its approach to allies.
Nicolas Conquer, head of Republicans Overseas France and founder of The Western Arc, a think tank inspired by MAGA, dismissed claims of meddling as “slander.” He told DW that interest in the Le Pen case was legitimate and framed U.S. actors as observers supporting shared transatlantic concerns.
Still, the French Foreign Ministry has grown wary about whether U.S. and French interests remain aligned. “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, shortly after President Trump took office.
As part of the effort, the ministry launched an X account called “French Response” to counter disinformation with irony. It also summoned the U.S. ambassador over comments by the Trump administration about the death of a far-right activist in Lyon; the ambassador did not attend.
Scholars warn of a wider playbook. David Colon, a history professor at Sciences Po Paris who studies mass manipulation, says France has some of Europe’s strongest defenses against information warfare, citing lessons from the 2017 “Macron leaks.” But he cautioned that Europe sits between two big powers and that U.S. conspiracy networks sometimes share goals and tactics with Russia to weaken the EU and pull the United States away from NATO.
Tara Varma of the German Marshall Fund in Paris called MAGA’s professed affection for Europe “toxic,” arguing its supporters seek to subordinate Europe, deny climate science and roll back minority rights. Maya Kandel of Sorbonne Nouvelle University said U.S. actors have carried out a culture war against Europe by cultivating ties to right-wing French politicians and exporting MAGA ideas through conferences such as CPAC and NatCon, with plans to fund sympathetic groups abroad.
Lafourcade warned that France is an obvious target because of its central role in the EU, its nuclear arsenal and its permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. “And it wouldn’t take much for the situation to tip,” she said.
Meanwhile, the RN leads polls ahead of the 2027 presidential election, underscoring the political stakes of foreign involvement in domestic affairs.
This article was originally published in German.