France to restore US Ambassador Kushner’s access after call
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The government cut off Mr Charles Kushner’s contact with French officials late on Feb 23 after he failed to show up for a summons.
PHOTO: REUTERS
France plans to restore US Ambassador Charles Kushner’s access to French government officials after he told Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot that he did not plan to interfere in French public debate, according to people familiar with the matter.
The government cut off Mr Kushner’s contact with French officials late on Feb 23 after he failed to show up for a summons over State Department comments about the killing of a far-right activist in Lyon.
Mr Barrot and Mr Kushner agreed in a phone call on Feb 24 to meet in the coming days to continue bilateral work, Mr Barrot’s office said in a text message to reporters.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
France’s move on Feb 23 marked an unusual rebuke between the longstanding allies. It was the second time that Mr Kushner did not appear in person to a French Foreign Ministry summons.
In August, Mr Kushner sent his deputy to receive a dressing down after he sparked the French government’s ire with an editorial that accused President Emmanuel Macron of not doing enough to fight anti-Semitism.
In an interview with France Info radio on the morning of Feb 24, Mr Barrot said the diplomat, father of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, would not recover the access until he explained himself to the foreign ministry.
Mr Kushner had been summoned to the foreign ministry after the US Embassy in Paris reposted a message on X from the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism warning that “violent radical leftism” was on the rise and citing the killing of a young activist as evidence of a threat to public safety.
Mr Quentin Deranque, 23, described in French media as a far-right activist, died in February following a fight in Lyon
