US President Donald Trump and close ally Elon Musk weighed in on Marine Le Pen’s conviction after the far-right National Rally leader was found guilty of embezzlement and barred from running in the 2027 French presidential election.

Trump called the court’s decision a “very big deal” on Monday. “She was banned for five years and she was the leading candidate,” Trump said.

“That sounds like this country, that sounds very much like this country,” he added, in apparent reference to legal cases he faced before taking office for a second term.

“I know all about it, and a lot of people thought she wasn’t going to be convicted of anything,” he said.

The South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk blasted the court verdict, which will see Le Pen and 24 codefendants also face a four-year prison sentence and a €100,000 fine for siphoning European Parliament funds to pay for party employees back home.

“When the radical left can’t win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents,” Musk said Monday. “This is their standard playbook throughout the world.”

Musk, who has increasingly backed far-right movements across Europe, said the court verdict would “backfire” in a separate post.

Le Pen to appeal

Speaking to French TV channel TF1 in her first reaction to the verdict, Le Pen called the ruling a “political decision” and said that millions of French people “are outraged”.

She called the verdict a violation of the rule of law, said she would appeal and asked that the court proceedings take place before the 2027 campaign.

She would remain ineligible to be a candidate until the appeal is decided.

“I didn’t think the magistrates would go so far against our democratic process”, she said in the TF1 interview.

“It’s a fatal day for our democracy.”

Marine Le Pen leaves the National Rally headquarters in Paris after a court convicted her of embezzlement and barred her from seeking public, 31 March, 2025 AP Photo

“There is no personal enrichment, so there is no corruption”, she said. “I’m going to pursue all possible avenues of appeal.”

She will have to resign as councillor for the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. She will continue to serve as an MP but will not be able to stand in legislative elections in the event of another dissolution of parliament in the near future.

A total of eight National Rally MEPs and their twelve assistants were also found guilty and barred from running for office. The party was also fined €2 million.

Le Pen and 24 other National Rally members were found guilty of embezzling money intended for European Parliament aides to pay staff who worked for the party over nearly 12 years.

A torn poster of French far-right party leader Marine Le Pen is seen in Henin-Beaumont in northern France, 11 December, 2015 AP Photo

Their full sentences were read out individually by the Paris court over several hours. Le Pen, who was sitting in the front row of the courtroom, visibly shook her head in disapproval as the verdict was read. She left without comment before sentencing ended.

The court estimated that the European Parliament’s total loss was €2.9 million, with Le Pen personally embezzling around €474,000.

“There was no personal enrichment … but there was the enrichment of a party,” Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis said, claiming it went against party financing rules.

“Let’s be clear: no one is on trial for doing politics, that’s not the issue. The issue was whether or not the contracts had been executed”, the judge added.

‘Je suis Marine‘

Leaders from the European Parliament’s right-wing Patriots for Europe bloc have rallied around Le Pen after the sentencing.

Patriots.eu, the group to which Le Pen’s RN belongs, published a post on X expressing “full support to Marine Le Pen” against what it described as an “alarming authoritarian drift within the European Union.”

Leaders of Patriot-affiliated parties have also expressed solidarity with the RN’s founder.

“Je suis Marine,” (I am Marine), wrote Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on X.

“I back Marine,” was the message in French of Italy’s League leader, Matteo Salvini, posted on a picture with the French politician.

Right-wing party leaders at a Patriots for Europe summit in Madrid, 8 February, 2025 AP Photo

The League’s delegation in the European Parliament considered the ruling as “political and disproportionate,” and “the greatest judicial scandal of the Fifth [French] Republic.”

“Today it is not Marine Le Pen or the Rassemblement National being hit, but democracy,” read a note from the Italian party.

“I am shocked by the incredible tough verdict against Marine Le Pen,” wrote the Dutch nationalist leader Geert Wilders, founder and president of PVV, adding that he is confident she “will win the appeal and become President of France.”

Statements of solidarity and accusations towards the French judiciary also arrived from Belgium and Greece.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament resumed its business in Strasbourg on Monday afternoon, with some members also reacting to the sentencing.

“Justice has done its job, we need to accept it, and I call on everyone to bear responsibility,” Valérie Hayer, chair of the centrist Renew Europe group, told Euronews.

“All Republican forces must stand up against anti-judicial rhetoric, which is a slippery slope”, socialist MEP Chloé Ridel said.

Embattled Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has claimed that those, who recently petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for her recall are members of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Ekwutosblog reports that the suspended lawmaker, who was elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is being recalled by her constituents.

INEC recently acknowledged the receipt of the petition but pointed out some missing information about the petitioners.

In a subsequent statement, the electoral umpire said the missing information which includes addresses and phone numbers of the petitioners have been received.

Addressing a mammoth crowd, who gave her a rousing welcome during her homecoming on Tuesday, the lawmaker accused INEC of aiding and guiding the petitioners to enable them to perfect their “illicit acts”.

She said, “From my personal perspective, what I see INEC doing is aiding and guiding petitioners on how to perfect their illicit acts.

“The first time the petition was submitted, they didn’t have address, phone numbers and all of that but INEC is out to guide them how to submit information that will perfect the petition.

“The petitioners, who were from the other party, the APC, now submitted a letterhead with an address that does not exist.”

Ebonyi State governor, Francis Nwifuru has arrested six commissioners over alleged involvement in breach of a contract for the construction of 140 housing units for Izzo and Amaze communities.

The arrested commissioners are Professor Omari Omaka (Tertiary Education), Victor Chukwu (Environment), Ifeanyi Ogbuewu (Culture and Tourism), Uchenna Igwe (Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters), Moses Ekuma (Health) and Felix Igboke (Project Monitoring).

The Chairman of Afikpo Local Government Area, Mr Timothy Nwachi, was also suspended.

It was gathered that the affected commissioners before their arrest, were declared wanted by the state government.

The governor, who spoke to newsmen in Abakaliki through the Chairman of the State Executive Council Committee on Izzo and Amaze Housing Project, Ilang Donatus, said the government felt that the affected commissioners and contractors have breached the terms and conditions of the contract given to them by the government.

Ekwutosblog gathered that the affected commissioners and the contractors were accused of sabotaging the plan of the governor, Francis Nwifuru, to commission the housing units to mark his two years anniversary in the state.

“The governor is not happy over the pace of the work which ought to have been completed. The government has decided to clamp down on the contractors and commissioners who were mandated to supervise those projects.

“As you can see, our governor is a man with a passionate heart, he likes giving succour, hence the building of those houses for the victims of the communal crisis.

“He is not happy that the project is delayed and has ordered the arrest of all the commissioners who were supposed to ensure the speedy completion of the housing units,” Donatus said.

The Special Assistant to the Governor on Women Mobilisation, Ebonyi Central, Mrs Maria Okohu who is member of the Executive Council Committee, said that non-completion of the projects by the contractors and the failure of some of the commissioners to strictly supervise them as directed by the government is an act of sabotage.

The governor, through the vommittee, insisted that the arrests will continue until all the commissioners and contractors involved are brought to book and as well do the needful.

It was gathered that the Nigeria Police has equally issued invitation letters to some of the fleeing commissioners and contractors who where not at home at the time the committee visited.