France summons US ambassador over Trump team’s comments on activist’s death

Politico Europe · Feb 23, 2026 · Collected from RSS

Full Article

News Politics Trump appointee Charles Kushner is being summoned after the U.S. State Department weighed in on 23-year-old far-right activist’s killing. Charles Kushner has been summoned to the foreign ministry Monday at 7 p.m. | Julien de Rosa/AFP via Getty Images February 23, 2026 10:39 am CET PARIS — U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner is being summoned by the French government for the second time in six months after the Trump administration commented on the death of a young activist that has roiled France. Far-right activist Quentin Deranque, 23, was killed in Lyon earlier this month on the sidelines of a political conference. The events leading up to the fight that cost Deranque his life remain unclear, but the National Rally has pointed to his killing as proof that the poll-topping populist party is the victim of an increasingly radical political left. The U.S. State Department weighed in late last week, saying in a post on social media that “violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque’s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety.” “We will continue to monitor the situation and expect to see the perpetrators of violence brought to justice,” it posted on X, which was retweeted by the U.S. embassy in Paris. The publication angered the French government, which has been trying to contain the political fallout from Deranque’s death and its risks to public safety, weeks ahead of local elections in March. “We refuse to allow this tragedy to be exploited for political ends,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on radio France Inter on Sunday. “We have no lessons to learn, particularly when it comes to violence, from international reactionary [forces],” he added. In the same interview, Barrot criticized U.S. sanctions against former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton and French International Criminal Court judge Nicolas Guillou, calling them unjustified. Kushner has been summoned to the foreign ministry Monday at 7 p.m. He was also summoned in August after writing in the Wall Street Journal that France was not doing enough to combat antisemitism. The Trump-appointed ambassador is being closely watched after receiving National Rally leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella in December, days after the U.S. administration had words of support for “patriotic European parties” in its eyebrow-raising National Security Strategy. Kushner has met with other French political leaders in recent months as well, including presidential candidates Edouard Philippe and Bruno Retailleau.