PARIS — The American ambassador to France said the US Embassy is watching the French presidential campaign closely, as the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron — constitutionally barred from a third consecutive term — begins to take shape ahead of the April 2027 vote.
Charles Kushner told the Journal du Dimanche that he had met with all major presidential candidates except those from the far left, describing his role as building bridges rather than influencing outcomes. “My role is not to influence but to build bridges,” he said, according to the newspaper.
Kushner is the father of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser. His appointment came after Trump pardoned him in 2020 following a 2004 federal conviction on charges of tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions, and witness tampering — the last charge stemming from a scheme in which he hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law and recorded the encounter to prevent cooperation with federal prosecutors. His Senate confirmation passed 51 to 45 in May 2025. French officials and opposition politicians noted the appointment as unusual even by the standards of American political patronage.
That unease surfaced publicly in February 2026, when France summoned Kushner after he made remarks about far-right political activists that Paris considered inappropriate for a serving envoy. Kushner did not appear at the foreign ministry meeting. France responded by restricting his access to government officials. France 24 reported at the time that the episode placed Kushner at the centre of a Franco-American rift that extended beyond his individual conduct.
The 2027 race is the first French presidential election without Macron as a candidate or an obvious power behind one since 2002. The right-wing field includes Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, assuming she is not disqualified by ongoing legal proceedings, and several centrist figures from the former Macron coalition. The consolidation of European right-wing parties — a dynamic Eastern Herald reported on in the context of Germany’s AfD — has also shifted how Washington reads European political landscapes heading into a cycle of national elections.
What Kushner’s monitoring of French candidates amounts to in practice — diplomatic preparation, political intelligence, or something less defined — he did not specify publicly.
