PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron achieved a diplomatic milestone Saturday, hosting the first in-person meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and United States President-elect Donald Trump since he won the election this past November. This was Trump’s first trip abroad since securing a second presidential term. It got off to a rocky start as the U.S. president-elect arrived more than 40 minutes late for his meeting with Macron and greeted the French president with a characteristically intense and awkward handshake and partial embrace. Upon arrival, Macron said Trump’s visit was “great honor for French people” while Trump looked back fondly on the “great relationship” the…
Author: Victor Goury-Laffont
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron will hold separate bilateral meetings with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump ahead of the reopening ceremony of the Notre Dame cathedral on Saturday, the French presidency announced. This will be Trump’s first visit abroad since his victory in the Nov. 5 election. Macron is among those leaders currently in power to have known the soon-to-be 47th president during his first term in office — a position he will look to leverage in order to assert himself as a key European partner to the U.S. Trump’s return to power has…
PARIS — Marine Le Pen on Wednesday accused prosecutors of seeking to sentence her to “political death” in a “politicized” embezzlement trial that could jeopardize her chances at running for president. In an interview with French radio station RTL, the longtime leader of the French far right, said the punishment being sought by prosecutors — which includes an immediate five-year ban on running for office — is tantamount to “a political death sentence because it’s irreparable.” “There’s real outrage … the public prosecutor’s office has created a disturbance of the peace with its demands,” Le Pen said. Le Pen, along with…
PARIS — Two women were found guilty of libel on Thursday and ordered to pay thousands of euros in damages after spreading a fake transphobic rumor that French first lady Brigitte Macron was born a man and is living as a transgender woman. The duo, a self-described independent journalist and the host of a YouTube channel, alleged without proof in a 2021 video posted to the platform that Macron had been born as Jean-Michel Trogneux and had later changed her name and gender. Trogneux, who is actually Macron’s brother, participated in the trial. The false claims were spread well beyond…