1 of 4 | President Donald Trump, alongside Ambassador to France Charles Kushner, right, watches as a U.S. flag is raised on the South Lawn at the White House in June. The French foreign minister said Sunday that he would summon Kushner for comments he made about the beating death of a far-right activist in Lyon, France. File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Sunday he will summon the U.S. ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, over comments the embassy made about “violent radical leftism.”
On Wednesday, police in France arrested 11 people for the beating death of a far-right activist at a protest in Lyon, France. Quentin Deranque, 23, died Feb. 14 after he sustained a severe brain injury from the attack. Prosecutor Thierry Dran said Deranque had been “thrown to the ground and beaten by at least six individuals.”
“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,” the U.S. embassy in France and the State Department Bureau of Counter-Terrorism said on X.
Barrot responded by saying he will summon Kushner for “interference.”
“We are summoning the U.S. ambassador to France because the embassy issued a commentary on this event which concerns the national community. We reject any interference in this event,” Barrot said on French radio.
“We reject any use of this tragedy, which has plunged a French family into mourning, for political ends,” Barrot told other French media. “We have no lessons to learn, particularly on the issue of violence, from the international reactionary movement.”
Kushner is the father of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
“Democracy rests on a basic bargain: you get to bring any viewpoint to the public square, and nobody gets to kill you for it,” said Sarah B. Rogers, undersecretary of state for Public Diplomacy, on X. “This is 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.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also spoke out against the fatal attack, calling it a “wound for all Europe.” Her comments sparked criticism from French President Emmanuel Macron for interfering in French domestic affairs.
Barrot said he plans to discuss other issues with Kushner in the summons, including the sanctions on Thierry Breton and Nicolas Guillou. Breton is a former E.U. commissioner who supervised social media rules, and Guillou is a French judge at the International Criminal Court.
Barrot called the sanctions attacks on EU autonomy and the independence of the international justice system.
France summoned Kushner in August after he published an open letter to Macron accusing the government of failing to take action on anti-Semitism.
“Public statements haranguing Israel and gestures towards recognition of a Palestinian state emboldened extremists, fuel violence and endanger Jewish life in France,” Kushner wrote. “In today’s world, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism — plain and simple.”
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump speaks alongside Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Thursday. The Trump administration has announced the finalization of rules that revoke the EPA’s ability to regulate climate pollution by ending the endangerment finding that determined six greenhouse gases could be categorized as dangerous to human health. Photo by Will Oliver/UPI | License Photo
