The United States ambassador to France and Monaco has been barred from direct access to French government ministers after failing to attend a summons to the foreign ministry — the second time he has stood up French officials since taking the post.
Charles Kushner, a billionaire real-estate developer appointed to the Paris embassy by President Donald Trump, was called in by foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot after the US embassy reposted State Department comments linking the death of a French far-right activist to what it called a rise in “violent radical leftism”. Kushner cited personal commitments and sent a senior embassy official in his place.
“In light of this apparent failure to grasp the basic requirements of the ambassadorial mission, the minister has requested that he no longer be allowed direct access to members of the French government,” the French foreign ministry responded in a statement. The ministry added that Kushner could continue to have exchanges with foreign ministry officials to manage what it described as the “irritants that can inevitably arise in a friendship spanning 250 years.”
A pattern of absences
It was not the first time Kushner had declined a ministry meeting. He also failed to appear in August after publishing an open letter to President Emmanuel Macron criticising what he described as insufficient government action on antisemitism in France.
Kushner, 71, is the father of Jared Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump – the oldest daughter of President Donald Trump. He was appointed ambassador despite a criminal record that includes a 2005 guilty plea to 16 counts of tax evasion, making false statements and witness tampering. He served 14 months in prison before being pardoned by Trump in 2020, and subsequently donated $1 million to Trump’s Make America Great Again Super PAC.
The case at the centre of the row
The diplomatic friction centres on the death of Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old far-right activist who died from head injuries sustained during clashes between far-right and radical left supporters on the sidelines of a protest in Lyon on 12th February. Six men have been charged in connection with his death, and a parliamentary assistant to a France Unbowed MP has been charged with complicity.
The US State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism said it was monitoring the case and called for perpetrators to be brought to justice, framing the incident within what it described as a broader threat from violent radical leftism. The embassy’s decision to post a French translation of those comments prompted the French summons.
Barrot on Sunday rejected any attempt to exploit the killing for political purposes. “We reject any instrumentalisation of this tragedy for political ends,” he said, adding that France had “no lessons to learn, particularly on the issue of violence, from the international reactionary movement.”
The case has also caused friction between France and Italy, after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described Deranque’s death as “a wound for all of Europe” — a comment Macron criticised as interference in French domestic affairs.
See also:
Charles Kushner formally takes post as US Ambassador to Monaco in ceremony with Prince Albert II
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Main photo credid: Nathan Cima, Unsplash