Leader of France’s far-right party Front National, Marine Le Pen, has been seen drinking coffee in the basement of Trump Tower in New York. She would not say if she was meeting President-elect Donald Trump.
According to polls, Marine Le Pen could make it to the final round of the French presidential elections to be held in May. She broke off her busy campaign schedule to fly to New York for what her party has described as a “private visit.” Her party was non-committal on if she was meeting Donald Trump.
She was spotted with her partner and vice-president Louis Aliot. When quizzed whether she was there in a professional or personal capacity she declined to answer.
Trump’s spokesman, Sean Spicer told CNN she was not there to see Trump and the tower is open to the public.
Le Pen’s Front National Party was the only one to support Trump during his campaign and it shares many of Trump’s views. Especially immigration and economic protectionism controls. Like Trump she has good links with Putin. In a speech congratulating Trump when he won the election, she said the victory showed the “political and media elite” could be put in its place and with Britain leaving the EU, a new order has been born.
She told a group of US and American reporters last week that there was no direct relationship with Steve Bannon or any other member of the administration. She added that her party had “historic international connections with people in the Republican party”, stating, “I think those relations will deepen when I’m elected.”
Recently she responded to a question asking if she shared Trump’s view on a Muslim registry, she replied, “I don’t model my policies on Donald Trump’s. I’m not answerable to Donald Trump’s internal US policies. I’ve only said that I approved his election because it seemed that his foreign policy proposals were favourable to France. That’s the only thing that interests me.”