By Juliette Jabkhiro and Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Charles Kushner, the U.S. ambassador to France, requested permission to visit former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in jail during his recent brief imprisonment, according to the Paris appeals court, which granted him permission to do so.
The meeting never took place, a source close to Sarkozy said, although Kushner and the former president did meet outside prison.
Sarkozy, a conservative who was president from 2007 to 2012, was freed from a three-week jail stint last month as he appeals his conviction for conspiring to raise funds from Libya. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.
Kushner, whose son Jared is married to U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, has made waves since arriving in Paris as ambassador earlier this year. He himself once served a jail sentence in the United States for illegal campaign contributions and tax evasion, among other charges. He received a presidential pardon from Trump in 2020.
Reuters could not ascertain why Kushner sought to meet Sarkozy, who was also visited in jail by his former protege, French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin. The U.S. Embassy in Paris did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The State Department did not have immediate comment.
The source close to Sarkozy declined to give more information on the matter, other than to say the former president plans to write about the episode in his upcoming book, “The Journal of a Prisoner,” due out next week.
Senior U.S. officials, including Trump, have accused French courts of treating conservative politicians unfairly, seeking to limit their support and keep them from power. When a court convicted far-right leader Marine Le Pen of embezzlement earlier this year and barred her from running in the 2027 election, Trump said she was a victim of “lawfare”.
A State Department delegation met Le Pen’s team earlier this year after her conviction, Reuters reported, but their offer of support was rebuffed by her aides.
Trump officials have also regularly weighed in on European politics to denounce what they say is suppression of right-wing politicians, including in Romania, Germany and France, accusing European authorities of censoring views such as criticism of immigration in the name of countering disinformation.
In August, Kushner was summoned to the French Foreign Ministry after he wrote an open letter to President Emmanuel Macron alleging that France had failed to do enough to stem antisemitic violence.
In September, when a Paris court ruled that Sarkozy should be jailed, the former French leader said the decision undermined the rule of law and trust in the justice system.
(Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Washington, Writing by Gabriel StargardterEditing by Gareth Jones)
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