Paris, Feb 25: France’s spat with the US ambassador to Paris took another turn Tuesday with the French foreign minister saying the top US diplomat in France must respond to a summons and won’t have access to French government officials until he complies.
French authorities had summoned Ambassador Charles Kushner – the father of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner – for a meeting on Monday over comments from the Trump administration that France objected to. But Kushner did not show up, the foreign ministry said.
The US Embassy did not immediately respond to repeated requests for comment.
Speaking Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot described the failure to attend the meeting as “a surprise” that flew in the face of diplomatic protocol and will dent Charles Kushner’s ability to serve as an ambassador.
“It will, naturally, affect his capacity to exercise his mission in our country,” Barrot said, speaking to public broadcaster France Info.
He said that Kushner “is bringing difficulties on himself. Because for an ambassador to be able to do his job, he needs access to members of the government. That’s the basics.”
“There is nothing more usual than summoning an ambassador when explanations need to be made,” he said. “When these explanations have taken place, then the US ambassador in France will, naturally, regain access to members of the French government.”
France’s foreign ministry had summoned Kushner over Trump administration tweets relating to the beating death in France of a far-right activist, Quentin Deranque.
The 23-year-old student, described as a fervent nationalist, was beaten by a group of people earlier this month in the city of Lyon, in fighting that erupted between far-left and far-right activists. He later died of brain injuries.
In a post last week on X, the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau said “violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque’s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety.” The US Embassy in Paris posted the same statement in French.