By Humeyra Pamuk, Juliette Jabkhiro and Elizabeth Pineau
WASHINGTON/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 U.S. State Department and 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. A State Department spokesperson said Kushner “wanted to visit former president Sarkozy out of personal compassion and respect to Sarkozy as a former French head of state and someone who has been a good friend to the United States”.
Sarkozy, a conservative who was president from 2007 to 2012, was freed from a three-week jail stint last month as he appeals against 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, once served a U.S. jail sentence for illegal campaign contributions and tax evasion, among other charges. He received a presidential pardon from Trump in 2020.
Trump and his administration have sought to boost conservative politicians in Europe by portraying their run-ins with the courts as “lawfare” by politicized judges, accusing them of trying to limit their support and keep them from power.
Trump said far-right leader Marine Le Pen had been a victim of lawfare when a court convicted her of embezzlement earlier this year and barred her from running in the 2027 election.
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.
The source close to Sarkozy declined to give more information on his meeting with Kushner, 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.
Kushner has made waves since arriving in Paris as ambassador earlier this year. 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.
(Additional reporting and writing by Gabriel StargardterEditing by Gareth Jones, Aidan Lewis)
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