Marine
Le Pen in US to discuss campaign … and seek funds
National
Front leader spotted in Trump Tower, but there was no meeting with
the president-elect.
By NICHOLAS
VINOCUR 1/13/17, 7:05 PM CET Updated 1/13/17, 8:56 PM CET
French far-right
leader Marine Le Pen is in the United States to discuss her
presidential bid and try to raise money for campaigns, officials
close to her said Friday.
While her National
Front party obtained a €6 million loan from her father’s lender
in January, Le Pen still lacks more than €10 million to fund a
parliamentary election campaign that kicks off directly after the
presidential vote.
Le Pen, who says
French banks refuse to lend to her party, has sought funds from
dozens of foreign banks, including American ones, so far without
success. After Le Pen was photographed Thursday in the lobby of Trump
Tower in New York, an official close to her told POLITICO that she
was in the United States, in part, to seek funds for her campaigns.
“The private
meetings that Le Pen had also focused on the unfair blacklisting of
Marine by French banks,” Denis Franceskin, the National Front’s
representative in the United States, said via text message.
On Thursday, George
“Guido” Lombardi, an Italian real estate developer and right-wing
political operative, told journalists in Trump Tower that Le Pen was
in the United States for “fundraising.”
A Trump spokesman
said there had been no meetings between Le Pen and the transition
team.
Before visiting
Trump Tower, Le Pen held several meetings in New York with “diplomats
and businessmen,” according to a Twitter account affiliated with
her presidential campaign. The names of people she met were not
disclosed, nor was the trip on her official agenda. Le Pen was due to
travel to Washington Friday for further meetings, Franceskin said.
In 2014, Le Pen
obtained a €9 million loan from a Russian-backed bank. The party is
paying 6 percent annual interest on the loan. But earlier this month,
Le Monde reported that the Russian deposit insurance agency had
requested the loan be reimbursed in full. The National Front’s
treasurer told French media he had never received any notification of
the request.
In January, Le Pen
told foreign journalists that she had enough money to underwrite her
presidential campaign, but not her parliamentary campaign.
Authors:
Nicholas Vinocur
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