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Politico (20 January 2026)

Marion Solletty

A senior policy adviser from the U.S. State Department asked a French magistrate last year whether she could intervene over the election ban on far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

The previously unreported details of the encounter will refocus attention on U.S. efforts to support the European far right. U.S. President Donald Trump has slammed the electoral ban against Le Pen as an example of using “Lawfare to silence Free Speech.”

French magistrate Magali Lafourcade told POLITICO that she and a colleague held a meeting in May with State Department adviser Samuel Samson, who made headlines last year for proposing the use of American taxpayer funds to support Le Pen.

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