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Donald Trump’s ambassador to France has been banned from meeting French government ministers after failing to show up for a meeting at the foreign ministry to explain US comments about the killing of a far-right activist.
Charles Kushner, whose son Jared is married to the US president’s oldest daughter, Ivanka, was summoned to the 7pm meeting by the foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, after the US embassy in Paris reposted state department comments about the case.
Diplomatic sources told French media that Kushner, a real-estate magnate with an estimated net worth of $3.2bn (£2.4bn), cited personal commitments as his reason for not attending and sent a senior official from the embassy 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 foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry added that Kushner could continue to have “exchanges” with foreign ministry officials “so that we may hold the diplomatic discussions needed to smooth over the irritants that can inevitably arise in a friendship spanning 250 years”.
The no-show was Kushner’s second since the billionaire real-estate magnate’s appointment to the Paris embassy last year.
He also failed to attend a meeting at the ministry in August after writing an open letter to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, criticising what he described as a lack of government action to tackle the “dramatic rise of antisemitism in France”.
The far-right activist Quentin Deranque, 23, died from head injuries after clashes between radical left and far-right supporters on the sidelines of a protest against a politician from the leftwing France Unbowed (LFI) party in Lyon on 12 February.
Six men suspected of involvement in Deranque’s death have been charged over the killing, and a parliamentary assistant to an LFI MP has been charged with complicity.
The US state department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism said it was monitoring the case, adding that “violent radical leftism” was on the rise and should be treated as a public safety threat.
“We expect to see the perpetrators of violence brought to justice,” it added. The US embassy in France posted a French translation of the comments.
Deranque’s killing has also caused a diplomatic feud between France and Italy, whose rightwing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, called the death “a wound for all of Europe”. Macron criticised her for speaking about French domestic affairs.
Barrot on Sunday denounced any attempts to exploit the killing. “We reject any instrumentalisation of this tragedy, which has plunged a French family into mourning, for political ends,” he said.
“We have no lessons to learn, particularly on the issue of violence, from the international reactionary movement,” the foreign minister added.
In 2005, Kushner, 71, pleaded guilty to 16 counts of tax evasion, making false statements and witness tampering – including hiring a sex worker to seduce his brother-in-law, who was testifying against him.
He spent 14 months in prison before being pardoned by Trump in 2020. Three years later he expressed his gratitude by donating $1m to Trump’s Make America Great Again Inc Super Pac.
