PARIS (AP) — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen says she won’t run for president next year if a Paris appeals court orders her to wear an electronic bracelet over alleged misuse of European Union funds.
The appeals court will deliver its key verdict on Tuesday.
Le Pen, 57, has challenged a March 2025 ruling that found her and other members of her National Rally party guilty of misusing EU Parliament funds in the hiring of aides from 2004 to 2016 who allegedly worked for the party instead of doing parliamentary tasks.
If convicted again, she could be sentenced to a ban from elected office or have to wear an electronic tag — or both — among other options.
“If I can be a candidate, I will be a candidate, provided that I am able to campaign,” Le Pen said in an interview with LCI channel late Wednesday. “Because if I’m allowed to be a candidate but am effectively prevented from campaigning freely, then you understand that wouldn’t be possible.”
Asked specifically whether an electronic bracelet would be the main obstacle, she replied: “Well, of course. I can’t be dependent on a judge to authorize me to go hold a campaign rally ... or to visit a market.”
Le Pen has denied accusations that she was at the center of a fraudulent system meant to siphon off EU funds.
France will hold the first round of its next presidential election on April 18, with a runoff set for May 2.
In March 2025, a Paris court ruled that Le Pen was at the heart of “a fraudulent system” that her party used to siphon off European Parliament funds worth 2.9 million euros ($3.4 million). She was given a five-year ban from holding elected office and two years of house arrest with an electronic bracelet.
“If I cannot be a candidate, I will make use of every available avenue of appeal,” Le Pen said. She could go to the Court of Cassation, which doesn’t judge the facts but checks whether the courts and courts of appeal have respected the law. The Court of Cassation could take about six months to hear the case and issue a verdict.
If allowed to run, Le Pen is widely seen as a top contender to succeed centrist President Emmanuel Macron in the 2027 election. If not, her 30-year-old protege Jordan Bardella would likely run instead.
Asked about their differences, Le Pen said she is the natural candidate of her camp after three previous presidential bids.
“We are complementary. I believe I have a certain experience, but Jordan has an absolutely incredible dynamism; he has the strength and energy of his youth,” she said.
France's Marine Le Pen arrives for a Patriots of Europe pre-EU summit meeting in Brussels, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman)
Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration Wednesday, demanding a court order that would require officials to preserve records from investigations he says are targeting him for “what amounts to phantom criminal conduct.”
The lawsuit says the records would shed light on the motivations of government officials who are investigating Brennan.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump visited North Dakota on Wednesday to see the newly built Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, a massive facility exploring the life of America’s 26th president, built in the rugged, lonely landscape where Roosevelt built his conservation values in the 1880s.
Here's the latest:
Trump’s latest financial disclosure report showed he took in about $1.2 billion last year from various crypto holdings, overshadowing a real estate business that brought him fame and helped propel him to the nation’s top office.
Whereas it took decades for Trump to amass his various properties, the rise of crypto in his portfolio was done in just over a year.
Running over 900 pages, the mandatory annual report showed Trump struck several other new veins of wealth last year, raising questions about whether he is profiting from his high office.
He took in tens of millions from new property holdings in foreign countries eager to please a man with power over where to deploy the U.S. military and how much to charge in tariffs. And he got tens of million more suing media companies worried they could lose their broadcast licenses or not get deals approved by his regulators.
Ever the salesman, Trump even made big money off the smallest of things, pulling in millions by slapping his name on Bibles, guitars and watches — the latter alone bringing in $4.7 million.
▶ Read more
Trump visited North Dakota on Wednesday to see the newly built Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, a massive facility exploring the life of America’s 26th president, built in the rugged, lonely landscape where Roosevelt built his conservation values in the 1880s.
During a tour of the 96,000-square-foot library and in a speech afterward, Trump spoke admiringly of Roosevelt and compared himself favorably to the former president, who he described as the embodiment of the American spirit, praising his toughness as a leader and outdoorsman.
“He had a freakin’ wild life,” Trump told an audience at a Western-themed amphitheater. “He didn’t want to be quiet. He wanted to be great.”
The official opening of the library on Saturday coincides with July 4th celebrations honoring the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
▶ Read more
Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration Wednesday, demanding a court order that would require officials to preserve records from investigations that he says are targeting him for “what amounts to phantom criminal conduct.”
The lawsuit says the records would shed light on the motivations of government officials who are investigating Brennan and would form the basis of defense efforts to dismiss any eventual indictment on grounds that the case constitutes a vindictive prosecution.
Such an argument, his lawyers said, would be supported by the more than 100 verbal or written statements that President Donald Trump has made since 2017 lambasting Brennan and by the Republican president’s directives to his Justice Department to initiate investigations of Brennan “without regard to factual or legal justification.”
Without an order, the lawsuit contends, the records are at risk of being lost or intentionally deleted.
▶ Read more
President Donald Trump greets supporters after arriving on a Freedom 250 train, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in Medora, N.D. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to board Air Force One at Bismarck Municipal Airport, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in Bismarck, N.D. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump arrives at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library on the Freedom 250 train, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in Medora, N.D. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
