Donald Trump‘s ambassador to France Charles Kushner has been banned from meeting government officials after he failed to show up to explain comments about a killed far-right activist.
Emmanuel Macron‘s government on Monday demanded that Kushner, whose son Jared is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, attend a meeting with the foreign minister to explain criticisms made by the State Department on the rise of ‘violent radical leftism’ in France.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot summoned Kushner after the US embassy in Paris reposted comments by the Trump administration in Washington about slain far-right activist Quentin Deranque.
Deranque, 23, died from head injuries following clashes between radical-left and far-right supporters in Lyon earlier this month.
The State Department’s bureau of counter-terrorism posted: ‘Violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque’s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety.’
Barrot denounced on Sunday any attempts to exploit the killing ‘for political ends’ and summoned Kushner for a meeting the following day. But a diplomatic source told outlets the ambassador cited ‘personal commitments’ and sent a senior embassy official instead.
The move is the most hostile action from Paris against the Trump administration over what it views as repeated attempts by Washington to interfere with French domestic affairs.
French diplomats have previously summoned Kushner to answer for his criticism of France’s handling of antisemitism, but he skipped that meeting in August.
Charles Kushner’s son, Jared, is married to the President’s eldest daughter Ivanka
Charles Kushner has been banned from meeting French officials after he failed to show up to explain comments about a killed far-right activist
The move is the most hostile action from Paris against the Trump administration over what it views as repeated attempts by Washington to interfere with French domestic affairs
‘In light of this apparent failure to grasp the basic requirements of the ambassadorial mission and the honor of representing one’s country, the minister (Barrot) has requested that he (Kushner) no longer be allowed direct access to members of the French government,’ the foreign ministry said.
Kushner would, however, be permitted to continue his diplomatic duties and have ‘exchanges’ with officials, it added in a statement.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment.
Deranque’s death has put France on edge, igniting tensions between the left and right ahead of a 2027 presidential vote.
More than 3,000 people marched in Lyon on Saturday in tribute to Deranque, with authorities deploying heavy security for fear of further clashes.
On Friday, Sarah Rogers, the State Department under secretary for public diplomacy, said Deranque’s killing showed ‘why we treat political violence – terrorism – so harshly.’
‘Once you decide to kill people for their opinions instead of persuade them, you’ve opted out of civilization,’ she wrote on X.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has also weighed in, triggering a war of words with French President Emmanuel Macron, who urged her to stop ‘commenting on what happens in other countries’.
Charles B. Kushner, flanked by his wife, Seryl Beth, left, and his attorney Alfred DeCotiis arrives at the Newark Federal Court for sentencing in Newark, NJ, March 4, 2005
Kushner, who took up his post in Paris last year, was previously summoned to the foreign ministry at the end of August, after the French government took exception to his criticism that Macron was not tackling antisemitism.
Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after pleading guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.
Prosecutors alleged that after Charles Kushner discovered his brother-in-law was cooperating with federal authorities in an investigation, he hatched a scheme for revenge and intimidation.
Kushner hired a prostitute to lure his brother-in-law, then arranged to have the encounter in a New Jersey motel room recorded with a hidden camera and the recording sent to his own sister, the man’s wife, prosecutors said.
Kushner eventually pleaded guilty to 18 counts including tax evasion and witness tampering. He was sentenced in 2005 to two years in prison — the most he could receive under a plea deal, but less than what Chris Christie, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey at the time and later governor and Republican presidential candidate, had sought.
Christie blamed Jared Kushner for his firing from Trump’s transition team in 2016, and has called Charles Kushner’s offenses ‘one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted when I was U.S. attorney.’
Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009.
