President Donald Trump said Thursday that the ruling by a court to ban French right-wing leader Marine Le Pen from running for office was part of a “witch hunt” to keep her out of power. 
In a Truth Social post, Trump compared the ruling against Le Pen to the Russian collusion investigation that marred much of his first term in office. A court this week ruled that Le Pen and other members of the National Rally Party were guilty of embezzlement and banned the populist political figure from seeking office for five years.
“The Witch Hunt against Marine Le Pen is another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech, and censor their Political Opponent, this time going so far as to put that Opponent in prison,” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114277430639309106" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> before referencing the discredited Trump-Russian narrative.  
“It is the same ‘playbook’ that was used against me by a group of Lunatics and Losers, like Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, and Lisa Monaco. They spent the last nine years thinking of nothing else, and they FAILED, because the People of the United States realized that they were only Corrupt Lawyers and Politicians,” Trump said. 
Trump added that he didn’t know Le Pen, but appreciated “how hard she worked for so many years.”
“She suffered losses, but kept on going, and now, just before what would be a Big Victory, they get her on a minor charge that she probably knew nothing about – Sounds like a ‘bookkeeping’ error to me,” Trump said. “It is all so bad for France, and the Great French People, no matter what side they are on. FREE MARINE LE PEN!”
Trump&#8217;s post was shared on X by his top donor, Elon Musk, who posted, &#8220;Free Le Pen!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Free Le Pen! <a href="https://t.co/mtx3ndQ10r">pic.twitter.com/mtx3ndQ10r</a>
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1908013951113195741?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Le Pen was convicted over accusations that she took $4.9 million of European Parliament funds designed to aid legislators in the European Parliament to pay party staffers uninvolved in work for the parliament. Her party currently holds a plurality of seats in France&#8217;s national assembly but has not been able to put together a coalition government. 
In a recent interview, Le Pen, who was a front-runner in the French presidential election, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/millions-of-french-people-that-have-been-silenced-marine-le-pen-reacts-to-ban-on-her-running?row=0&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;author=Hank+Berrien&amp;title=‘Millions+Of+French+People+That+Have+Been+Silenced’%3A+Marine+Le+Pen+Reacts+To+Ban+On+Her+Running&amp;category=News" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the ruling against her was politically motivated.
“I think the judges got it wrong,” she said. “I think they chose to ignore all of the explanations that were given because, in the very first hours of this trial, I had understood that the court was biased against us. I did not think the magistrates would go this far against our democratic process and interfere this much with the choice of the French. Let’s be clear: I have been silenced but it’s the voice of millions of French people that have been silenced as we speak tonight.”
Le Pen is speaking Sunday in Paris at a rally called “Let’s Save Democracy!&#8221;

MixCollage-04-Apr-2025-11-46-AM-2543

‘Using Lawfare To Silence Free Speech’: Trump Slams ‘Witch Hunt’ Against Marine Le Pen

Donald Trump

Elon Musk

Executive

France

Global Politics

Marine Le Pen

Russia

World

French leader Marine Le Pen, head of the right-wing National Rally Party, who was banned from running for president by a French court, recently reacted to the ruling in an interview with TF1.
The decision from the court accused Le Pen and others in her party of using $4.9 million of European Parliament funds designed to aid legislators in the European Parliament to pay party staffers uninvolved in work for the parliament.
“I perfectly understood that the court president was explaining that she was issuing a political ruling,” Le Pen stated. “The magistrate made it very clear that enforcing the temporary sentence barring me from seeking public office, rendered my appeal void and would prevent me from running and getting elected, she said, in the presidential election.”
“There are millions of French people who are outraged, outraged to an unbelievable extent when they see that, in France, the country of human rights, judges were implementing practices that we thought were typical of authoritarian regimes,” she continued.
“I think the judges got it wrong,” she said. “I think they chose to ignore all of the explanations that were given because, in the very first hours of this trial, I had understood that the court was biased against us. I did not think the magistrates would go this far against our democratic process and interfere this much with the choice of the French. Let’s be clear: I have been silenced but it’s the voice of millions of French people that have been silenced as we speak tonight.”
“I’m a fighter,” she <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reel/2378880949152842">declared</a>. “I’m not going to let myself be eliminated like that. I’m going to pursue every avenue of recourse that I can. There’s a small path; it may be narrow, but it does exist. In fact, I’m going to ask, in the clearest possible way for the appeal decision to be handed down enabling me to consider running in the presidential election. I will always stand by the French. Millions of French people believe in me. Millions of French people put their trust in me. And I’ve come to tell them, ‘I have been fighting for you for 30 years and I’ve been fighting injustice for thirty years. And so I’m going to keep doing it. And I will do it all the way.’”
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Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen Election Ban Threatens Fragile Calm in French Politics

‘Millions Of French People That Have Been Silenced’: Marine Le Pen Reacts To Ban On Her Running

Trump’s tariffs go into effect at midnight as foreign leaders and state governors scramble to negotiate last-minute deals. Populist leader Marine Le Pen is banned from running for office in France after being found guilty of embezzlement. And, Elon Musk says he&#8217;s uncovered millions of non-citizens on the social security rolls, including thousands who allegedly voted.
It’s Tuesday, April 1st, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
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<h2>Trump Tariffs Take Hold</h2>
<div id="attachment_900809" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-900809" class="size-large wp-image-900809" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Just hours from Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day,” consumers, corporations, and international trading partners are preparing for a slew of new tariffs that could reshape the global economy.
For weeks now, the president has floated various ideas on tariffs, sometimes saying he’d match the rates set by other countries, then floating the idea of a universal 20 percent rate, before saying that he could be “much more generous” with our trading partners. We’re still not entirely sure what the details of Trump’s “Liberation Day” policy will be – that ambiguity is almost certainly intentional.
The Art of the Deal: By waiting until the last minute, Trump has left the door open for negotiating. On Friday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum met with Trump officials to discuss her plans to improve border security, clearly hoping to ease looming tariffs on her country. The president has fielded calls from the prime ministers of Canada and Great Britain — both men reportedly made their last-minute pitches seeking to dodge tariffs. In the last 72 hours, lawmakers in both parties have also been calling the White House to lobby for exemptions for particular industries in their states, and a flood of business leaders have made their case to the president, some vowing to bring manufacturing stateside and pour money into investments and jobs in exchange for lower tariffs.
While that shifting picture might benefit Trump from a negotiating standpoint, it has spooked markets. Wall Street saw its second worst day of the year on Friday and continued to see-saw Monday:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The DOW Jones was <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/djia">up 1%</a> at market close after a tumultuous day of trading</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The NASDAQ was down <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/">0.14%</a></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/spx">S&amp;P 500</a> was up by 0.55%</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Japan’s <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/nik?countrycode=jp">NIKKEI 225 index</a> was down by more than 4%</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Various <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/data-news/european-stocks-weaken-for-fourth-day-7859828b-bf1ee26684a5?mod=mw_quote_news">European stock exchanges</a> have been trending down for days</li>
</ul>
Amid the market swings and concerns over potential price increases from these tariffs, there’s no doubt that more voters have soured on President Trump’s handling of the economy — the issue he’s typically been the most popular on. Numerous polls show his approval rating on the economy lower now than at any point in his first or second term. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-poll-immigration-tariffs-trade-b7a430909606d6b8b27cfbc5049a32b4">The Associated Press</a>, for example, had him at 40%. If Liberation Day results in considerable price increases, there’s a real risk those numbers could fall even further.
<h2>French Opposition Leader Banned</h2>
<div id="attachment_900815" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-900815" class="size-large wp-image-900815" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Tom Nicholson/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Marine Le Pen, the populist frontrunner for France’s 2027 presidential race, has been convicted of embezzlement and banned from seeking office for five years.
Marine Le Pen is the leader of the National Rally, a right-wing political party in France. She has generally been characterized by the leaders of France’s establishment parties as an extremist but has proved to be very popular. She came in first place in the first round of the last French presidential election, and <a href="https://www.ifop.com/publication/les-intentions-de-vote-a-lelection-presidentielle-5/">polling</a> continues to show that more than 1 in 3 French voters back her and her party, more than any of the other prospective candidates. National Rally also holds a plurality of seats in France’s national assembly, 126/577, although they have been consistently kept out of government by coalitions of other parties.
Le Pen was found guilty of misappropriating several million euros in European Union funds. Her party was entitled to a certain amount of EU funding to pay staff to work for general European political operations, but the court determined she used that money to the benefit of her party rather than restricting it to EU-related expenses.
However: Ellen Fantini, managing editor of The European Conservative, told Morning Wire that virtually every major party in Europe uses these funds similarly. She says the way the conviction is being carried out makes it very clear that this is about sidelining Le Pen as a candidate.
“Under French law, of course, she can appeal the conviction, like in the United States,” Fantini said. “But the prohibition on running for office is in execution as of basically today, even though she has the right to appeal. So it&#8217;s obvious that that&#8217;s the real thing they wanted.”
Critics of the case against Le Pen have condemned it as a blatant weaponization of the justice system against a political opponent and compared the legal battle to the various efforts to convict Donald Trump on state and federal charges in the lead-up to the 2024 election. Leaders of right-wing parties across Europe have spoken up in support of Le Pen:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">On Monday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban posted, “Je suis Marine!” [I am Marine].</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing populist League party, called the ruling a “declaration of war by Brussels.”</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“I am shocked by the incredibly tough verdict against Marine Le Pen,” Geert Wilders of the Netherlands’ right-wing Party for Freedom, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/le-pen-fall-far-right-france-3650ad8276aaee462c8e92f2904f400f">said</a>. “I support and believe in her 100% and I trust she will win the appeal and become President of France.”</li>
</ul>
Le Pen has already indicated that she will appeal the case, although her chances of overturning the ban before the 2027 election deadline are slim.
“This evening, millions of French people are indignant, indignant to an unimaginable extent seeing that France, the country of human rights, judges have implemented practices that were thought to be the reserve of authoritarian regimes,” Le Pen said in an interview on Monday.
<h2>Non-Citizen Social Security</h2>
<div id="attachment_900819" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-900819" class="wp-image-900819 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Douglas Sacha via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Elon Musk and venture capitalist Antonio Gracias have alleged widespread fraud in the Social Security system.
Senior figures within the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project claimed to have uncovered millions of non-citizens who were collecting Social Security benefits and potentially voting in American elections. Musk and Gracias said on Sunday that 2.1 million non-citizens received Social Security Numbers last year alone, and 4.8 million received SSNs over the last four years. That alone isn’t necessarily evidence of fraud – non-citizens in the country under certain rules are eligible for Social Security Numbers – but the number of non-citizens receiving them surged under the Biden administration.
“The defaults in the system from Social Security to all of the benefit programs have been set to max inclusion, max pay for these people, and minimum collection,” Gracias <a href="https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1906675223304228870">sai</a>d on Sunday. “We found 1.3 million of them already on Medicaid as an example.”
Social Security is currently deep in the red – the trust fund that handles retirement benefits, for instance, is expected to run out of money in 2033.
Musk claimed that the surge in illegal immigration and increased access to government benefits during the Biden years were intentional government policy. “They weren&#8217;t asleep at the switch. It was a massive, large-scale program to import as many illegals as possible, ultimately to change the entire voting map of the United States and disenfranchise the American people and make it a permanent deep blue one party state.”
Gracias says that some of these non-citizens who received Social Security numbers showed up to vote. “We actually just took a sample and looked at voter registration records and we found people here registered to vote,” Gracias said. “We found some by sampling that actually did vote, and we have referred them to prosecution.”

Trump Threatens New Tariffs On Multiple Countries As Second Term Nears

Morning Brief: Trump’s Tariffs, Le Pen Barred & Social Security Fraud?

Democracy

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

DOGE

Europe

Illegal Immigation

Social Security

Tariffs

Trade War

A French court has now banned Marine Le Pen, who is highly likely to win the next election in France, from seeking public office for five years. The court convicted her of misusing European Union funds.
&#8220;The court ruled that Le Pen and other members of her party illegally used 4.4 million euros, equivalent to $4.8 million, in EU funding that was earmarked for assistants helping lawmakers in the European Parliament with their work,&#8221; The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/frances-marine-le-pen-found-guilty-of-embezzlement-b8c42dac" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. &#8220;Monday’s sentence bars Le Pen from seeking public office for the next five years, thrusting her far-right party into limbo. Le Pen also received a four-year prison sentence. Half of that term was suspended, judges said, adding that she could serve the remaining two years by using an electronic bracelet or other alternatives to jail time. The ruling takes Le Pen out of contention for the 2027 race, unless she can win a swift appeal. Le Pen had been expected to enter that contest as a front-runner as President Emmanuel Macron will be term limited and other prominent contenders have yet to emerge.&#8221;
This is crazy — but this is part and parcel of the broader attempt by Left-wing judiciary activists across the globe to stop “populist politicians” from being able to run.
We saw it with President Trump, where the DOJ went after him for supposed crimes, the same crimes for which they let Joe Biden off the hook. We saw it in New York, where a New York attorney general filed a civil fraud lawsuit in an attempt to stop then-candidate Trump.
We have seen it in Brazil, where the entire judicial apparatus has been brought down on the head of Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, in favor of Lula da Silva, who was then freed by that same exact judiciary.
We&#8217;ve seen it in Romania, where Cǎlin Georgescu won the election in 2024 and then the judiciary decided the election had been rigged by the Russians and annulled it. 
We have seen it in Israel, where the attorney general of Israel has been targeting Benjamin Netanyahu on specious charges for literally years, and the judiciary keep saying that Netanyahu can&#8217;t perform the basic functions of an executive, such as fire his attorney general or fire anyone in the executive branch.
And now we are seeing it in France.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2169-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
It is absolutely amazing to watch these unelected officials going out of their way to thwart the will of the people in supposed democracies. It&#8217;s really insane.
You want to talk about undermining democracy itself? This undermines democracy because the reaction to this is, “Okay, what if we just overthrow the judicial institutions?”
Why do I feel like this is a put-up job? Because it takes effect immediately. The point is to get her out of the elections. Thus they&#8217;re suspending her jail sentence but they are not suspending her ban from running.
Le Pen had denied the charges, “testifying in court that it was appropriate for the assistants to perform other party-related work because they were political aides, not direct employees of the European Parliament,” the Journal noted.
In other words, if the European Parliament didn’t want them focused solely on party-related tasks, perhaps it should have hired them directly, rather than paying the party to handle some of its work. That sounds like a strong defense.
Is the idea here that Marine Le Pen desperately needed a couple of million euros in order to pay off her political party? I feel like she probably could have raised it. Her party&#8217;s pretty big in France.
This is just the latest NATO member to reject a populist candidate by some sort of judicial intervention.
If you want to talk about undermining the argument that democracy must flourish in Europe, this would be a great way to do it.

FRANCE-POLITICS-JUSTICE-TRIAL-RN

Marine Le Pen Banned From Running

Ben Shapiro

Conservatives

Corruption

European Union

Judiciary

Leftists

Opinion

Parliament

Populism

Prison

French opposition leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for political office following her conviction — along with several others in France&#8217;s Right-leaning National Rally Party — on charges of embezzling public funds.
The charges against Le Pen involved funding from the European Parliament to her party — some of which prosecutors said she had used to pay her own personal assistant and bodyguard.
Prosecutors asked that Le Pen receive two years in prison and five years of political ineligibility — the latter ensuring that she would not be able to run for president in 2027, a race she is currently favored to win.
Le Pen, who claimed prior to her sentencing that barring her from running would amount to &#8220;political death,&#8221; came in second to current French President Emmanuel Macron in the last two elections, and her party has been steadily gaining support. She argued that the court&#8217;s move to declare her ineligible to run would effectively disenfranchise millions of voters.
&#8220;There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent. So tomorrow, potentially, millions and millions of French people would see themselves deprived of their candidate in the election,&#8221; she said ahead of the sentencing. She stormed out of the courtroom on Monday before her full sentence had been announced.
Le Pen, who claimed prior to the sentencing that the prosecution&#8217;s goal had been to sideline her in the 2027 election, doubled down in a Monday appearance on French television network TF1: &#8220;It was a political decision that was made. The magistrate took it upon herself to implement the provisional execution of the ineligibility, to render my appeal on this matter useless in order to prevent me from standing and being elected President of the Republic.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
C’est une décision politique qui a été rendue.
La magistrate a assumé de mettre en œuvre l&#39;exécution provisoire de l&#39;inéligibilité, de rendre mon appel inutile sur ce sujet pour m&#39;empêcher de me présenter et d&#39;être élue présidente de la République. <a href="https://t.co/N7TlTc4r9f">pic.twitter.com/N7TlTc4r9f</a>
&mdash; Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLP_officiel/status/1906777645557408031?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Le Pen is not the only person to believe that the move was primarily political. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini summed up his thoughts in a post on X, saying, &#8220;Those who fear the judgment of voters often seek reassurance from the courts. In Paris, they have condemned Marine Le Pen and would like to remove her from political life. A bad situation that is also being observed in other countries such as Romania. What is happening against @MLP_officiel is a declaration of war from Brussels, at a time when the belligerent impulses of Von der Leyen and Macron are terrifying. We are not intimidated, we are not stopped: full speed ahead, my friend!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Ceux qui craignent le jugement des électeurs cherchent souvent à se rassurer par celui des tribunaux. À Paris, ils ont condamné Marine Le Pen et aimeraient l’écarter de la vie politique. Un mauvais film que l’on observe également dans d’autres pays comme la Roumanie. Ce qui se…
&mdash; Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) <a href="https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1906666355572511062?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A number also pointed out via X that what had happened to Le Pen was exactly what Vice President JD Vance had been sounding the alarm about when he said that the major threats Europe faced would come from within.
&#8220;Less than 2 months after @JDVance warned that the greatest threat to Europe was from within, leftists in France have banned Marine Le Pen from running for President despite being the leading candidate. Fill up the JD Vance was right jar!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Less than 2 months after <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JDVance</a> warned that the greatest threat to Europe was from within, leftists in France have banned Marine Le Pen from running for President despite being the leading candidate. Fill up the JD Vance was right jar! <a href="https://t.co/J0kylN0R8F">pic.twitter.com/J0kylN0R8F</a>
&mdash; Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) <a href="https://twitter.com/robbystarbuck/status/1906709158499328259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister On Le Pen Conviction: ‘A Declaration Of War From Brussels’

Italy

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed a French politician this week who demanded that the U.S. return the Statue of Liberty back to France, reminding him that if it was not for the United States, he would likely be speaking German right now.
Leavitt&#8217;s remarks were directed at Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the the European Parliament and co-president of a small leftist party in France, after remarks that he made over the weekend where he accused the United States of having “chosen to switch to the side of the tyrants.”
“Give us back the Statue of Liberty,” Glucksmann demanded. “It was our gift to you. But apparently you despise her. So she will be happy here with us.”
In response to his remarks, a reporter asked Leavitt if Trump would give back the Statue of Liberty.
&#8220;Absolutely not,&#8221; Leavitt responded. &#8220;And, my advice to that unnamed, low-level French politician would be to remind them that it&#8217;s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now.&#8221;
&#8220;So they should be very grateful to our great country,&#8221; she added.
The Statue of Liberty, standing more than 300 feet tall on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and structured by Gustave Eiffel. It was a given to the United States in Paris on July 4, 1884, the 108th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and was a symbol of friendship between the two countries.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> responds to the low-level French politician who apparently wants the Statue of Liberty back: &quot;It&#39;s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/4JAJKADxWE">pic.twitter.com/4JAJKADxWE</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1901688046950494413?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

White House Briefing 3/17/25

Karoline Leavitt Claps Back At French Politician Who Demanded Statue Of Liberty Back

Karoline Leavitt

Politics

Statue of Liberty

Second lady Usha Vance announced that she will lead a presidential delegation on Friday to the 2025 Special Olympics Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
“Ms. Vance and the Presidential Delegation will join approximately 1,500 Special Olympic athletes and unified partners from 100 nations along with their families, coaches, volunteers, and thousands of fans,” a press release from the Office of the Second Lady read.
“Athletes will compete in varying Olympic events including, skating, snowboarding, floorball, etc, in hopes of bringing home Olympic gold,” it added. “The Second Lady plans to attend several events including the Special Olympics Opening Ceremony. The Presidential Delegation will return to the United States on Monday, March 10, 2025.”
The list of Americans who will be part of the presidential delegation, per the release, includes Fox News host and wife of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Rachel Campos-Duffy, T.H. Trent Michael Morse, Deputy Assistant to the President, Shawn Crowley, Chargé d’Affaires a.i., U.S. Embassy to Italy and San Marino, Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn, Mr. Douglass Benning, the consul general of the U.S. Consulate Milan, Italy, Riley M. Barnes of the State Department, and Richard Walters of FGS Global.
The American lawyer and Vice President JD Vance have been married for 11 years and share three children in Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel.
During the second lady&#8217;s recent trip to France with her husband and their kids, it was Usha and JD’s 5-year-old son, Vivek, who clearly stole the show during a family outing to see the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Vance&#8217;s trip to Paris was for an international summit on Artificial Intelligence, where he encouraged world leaders to look at AI development as more of an opportunity than a risk: “The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEWS: Tomorrow, Second Lady Usha Vance will lead a presidential delegation to the 2025 Special Olympic Winter Games in Italy.
The delegation includes Fox News host Rachel Campos Duffy, Richard Walters of FGS Global, Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn, Mr. Douglass Benning, the consul… <a href="https://t.co/xiGi4Cv9YC">pic.twitter.com/xiGi4Cv9YC</a>
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1897733769542746164?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
“‘Daaaaad, can we go now? I want chicken nuggets.’ Seriously, though, it’s great that JD and Usha are trying to give the kids as normal a family life as possible for the next 4 (8? 12?) years,” Mark Krikorian posted after the video surfaced on social media of the family at the cathedral.
“The 5 year old who will absolutely not stop asking questions in church is the realest,” Emily Zanotti added.
“Vance’s daughter won’t let go of him, his youngest son is talking to him like they’re just hanging at home in the living room and the oldest is chatting it up with Usha. It’s nice to see an average American family dynamic in leadership,” Brianna Lyman posted.
“I want a reality show about life as VP raising 3 little kids that don’t care that you’re the VP, you’re just dad and we follow them around on all the cool places they go and the kids just complain and ask questions nonstop,” another posted.
Virginia Kruta contributed to this piece.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jd-vance-tours-notre-dame-in-paris-with-his-family-5-year-old-vivek-steals-the-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JD Vance Tours Notre Dame In Paris With His Family, 5-Year-Old Vivek Steals The Show</a>

Vice-Presidential Dinner Held In Honor Of J.D. Vance Held At National Gallery Of Art

Usha Vance To Lead Presidential Delegation To 2025 Special Olympic Winter Games

Entertainment

General

JD Vance

Special Olympics

Usha Vance

Vice President JD Vance and his family spent the day in France, where Vance met with world leaders and delivered remarks at the Artificial Intelligence Summit.
In his <a href="https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1nAKEgmlPBgJL" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remarks,</a> Vance portrayed the United States as the global leader of “one of the most promising technologies we have seen in generations.&#8221;
&#8220;This administration will continue to ensure that American AI technology continues to be the gold standard worldwide,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And we are the partner of choice for others, foreign countries, and certainly businesses, as they expand their own use of AI.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also attended the conference, along with several tech executives. Vance stressed in his speech that the Trump administration is striving to make America the “gold standard” of AI, fight excessive AI regulation, prevent political bias in the field, and advocate for American workers as AI technology develops.
The vice president and his wife also met with Macron and his wife, Brigitte, at the Élysée Palace on Tuesday, where they &#8220;held a productive discussion on a range of issues, including ensuring balanced trade between the United States and France,&#8221; according to the vice president&#8217;s office. The two world leaders also discussed ending the war in Ukraine and how the United States and France can collaborate on Artificial Intelligence models.
<div id="attachment_875415" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vice-president-jd-vance-meets-with-world-leaders-in-france/emmanuel-macron-receives-american-vice-president-jd-vance" rel="attachment wp-att-875415"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-875415" class="wp-image-875415 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198909607-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198909607-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198909607-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198909607-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198909607-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198909607-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198909607-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198909607-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Photo by Antoine Gyori &#8211; Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)</div>
Also on Tuesday, Vance met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas at the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in Paris. The three leaders discussed how to peacefully resolve global conflicts, including in Ukraine, the vice president&#8217;s office said in a release.
&#8220;The Vice President emphasized the importance of fair and reciprocal trade between the United States and the European Union,&#8221; the release said. &#8220;The Vice President also discussed the Trump Administration’s efforts to unleash American energy.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_875411" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vice-president-jd-vance-meets-with-world-leaders-in-france/france-us-india-diplomacy-technology-ai-summit" rel="attachment wp-att-875411"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-875411" class="wp-image-875411 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198340039-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198340039-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198340039-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198340039-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198340039-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198340039-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198340039-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198340039-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Photo by LEAH MILLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
Modi wished a happy birthday to Vance&#8217;s son Vivek and gave presents to all the Vance children. Vance&#8217;s wife, Usha, joined the two leaders as they drank coffee and discussed &#8220;topics of mutual interest, including how the United States can assist India in diversifying its energy sourcing through investments in clean, reliable U.S. nuclear technology.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Had a wonderful meeting with US <a href="https://twitter.com/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VP</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JDVance</a> and his family. We had a great conversation on various subjects. Delighted to join them in celebrating the joyous birthday of their son, Vivek! <a href="https://t.co/gZpmt1jg5M">pic.twitter.com/gZpmt1jg5M</a>
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1889373282937585875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
On Tuesday evening, the Vance family enjoyed a tour of the Louvre Museum, per the press traveling with the vice president. The Louvre is closed to the public on Tuesdays.
The Vance family also drew attention upon their arrival in France on Tuesday morning, when photographers captured pictures of the family departing Air Force 2. Commentators on social media were quick to appreciate that the sleepy Vance children were clad in pajamas and winter coats after their long flight across the Atlantic.
<div id="attachment_875407" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vice-president-jd-vance-meets-with-world-leaders-in-france/france-us-ai-summit-diplomacy" rel="attachment wp-att-875407"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-875407" class="wp-image-875407 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198092395-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198092395-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198092395-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198092395-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198092395-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198092395-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198092395-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198092395-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Photo by Ian LANGSDON / AFP) (Photo by IAN LANGSDON/AFP via Getty Images)</div>

Emmanuel Macron Receives American Vice President JD Vance

Vice President JD Vance Meets With World Leaders In France

Emmanuel Macron

India

Vice President JD Vance <a href="https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1nAKEgmlPBgJL" target="_blank" rel="noopener">addressed world leaders</a> at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday, pointing to the U.S. as the global leader on &#8220;one of the most promising technologies we have seen in generations.&#8221;
The conference included world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada&#8217;s outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, India&#8217;s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and tech executives. In his speech, the vice president outlined four key points he says the Trump administration will strive for in its AI policy: making America the &#8220;gold standard&#8221; of AI, fighting excessive regulation in the industry, preventing political bias in AI, and advocating for American workers as the technology continues to develop.
&#8220;This administration will continue to ensure that American AI technology continues to be the gold standard worldwide,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;And we are the partner of choice for others, foreign countries, and certainly businesses, as they expand their own use of AI.&#8221;
To &#8220;safeguard&#8221; America&#8217;s place at the top of AI development, Vance said the Trump administration will &#8220;ensure that the most powerful AI systems are built in the U.S. with American designed and manufactured chips.&#8221; He emphasized that while the U.S. will strive to independently develop AI technology, the Trump administration also desires a partnership with other countries.
&#8220;We want to embark on the AI revolution before us with a spirit of openness and collaboration, but to create that kind of trust, we need international regulatory regimes that foster the creation of AI technology rather than strangle it,&#8221; Vance remarked. &#8220;And we need our European friends in particular to look to this new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation.&#8221;
Citing President Donald Trump&#8217;s recent executive order on AI, Vance said the U.S. would pursue an &#8220;AI action plan that avoids overly precautionary regulatory regime while ensuring that all Americans benefit from the technology and its transformative potential.&#8221; One day after being sworn into office, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-announces-500-billion-stargate-project-to-make-u-s-lead-the-world-in-ai-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a $500 billion investment to build AI infrastructure in the U.S., a move the president said would help America compete with foreign adversaries such as China.
Vance called out foreign governments that were &#8220;tightening the screws&#8221; on AI development by regulating tech companies &#8220;with international footprints.&#8221; He said that &#8220;America cannot and will not accept that,&#8221; adding that heavy regulation on the tech sector is &#8220;a terrible mistake, not just for the United States of America, but for your own countries.&#8221;
Vance said he strongly agrees with the argument previously put forward by Prime Minister Modi that AI will &#8220;facilitate&#8221; the creation of more jobs.
&#8220;It is not going to replace human beings. It will never replace human beings,&#8221; Vance added. &#8220;And I think too many leaders in the AI industry — when they talk about this fear of replacing workers — I think they really miss the point. AI, we believe, is going to make us more productive, more prosperous, and more free.&#8221;
The vice president also commented on the Trump administration&#8217;s desire to keep ideological bias out of AI and protect Americans&#8217; right to free speech as AI progresses. He reminded the audience of when AI systems generated historically inaccurate images of George Washington as a black man and American infantrymen in World War I as women.
&#8220;Now, we laugh at this now, and of course it was ridiculous, but we have to remember the lessons from that ridiculous moment,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;And what we take from it is that the Trump administration will ensure that AI systems developed in America are free from ideological bias and never restrict our citizens&#8217; right to free speech.&#8221;

‘Look To This New Frontier With Optimism’: Vance Urges World Leaders To Follow America’s Lead On AI

Artificial Intelligence

Paris

Technology

Trump Administration

A gynecologist in southern France has been suspended for a month after saying he couldn’t treat a trans-identifying male.
Gynecologists treat conditions specific to women and girls, particularly those affecting female reproductive systems – something biological men don’t have. The patient in France still had intact male genitalia, which requires a doctor with a different medical specialty. It would have been malpractice for Dr. Victor Acharian to examine the trans-identifying patient, who has not been named in news reports.
The incident occurred in August 2023, The Times of London <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/article/c6116fa0-1233-4f86-995f-4d6e88b91d63?shareToken=eaf9ec832c31ec91a59c0cab519a633d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, when a trans-identifying male entered Acharian’s practice requesting gynecological services. Acharian has said he offered to refer the patient to services better suited to the patient&#8217;s needs, using the patient&#8217;s preferred pronouns.
“I was only trying to be honest when I said it wasn’t my specialty and I wasn’t competent. I offered to refer her to services that could take better care of her,” Acharian said in December when he was forced to appear before the French Medical Council’s disciplinary board.
The patient, according to Acharian, shouted, “You’re transphobic,” and insulted the doctor’s secretary before leaving the office.
The patient told the disciplinary board: “I was in shock. It was the first time I had suffered this sort of transphobia.&#8221;
After the incident, the patient’s partner reportedly left a negative Google review about the doctor’s refusal to treat a biological male. Acharian responded to the review by addressing the “gentleman” and writing that he only treated “real women,” the Times reported.
“I have no skills to take care of men, even if they have shaved their beards and they come and tell my secretary that they have become women. My gynecological examination table is not suitable for examining men,” Acharian wrote, according to the Times.
He later apologized for his word choices, saying: “I reacted spontaneously, out of anger, as I felt I was being attacked unfairly. My words were very clumsy and they may have caused offence. I’m well aware of that and I have expressed my regret on several occasions.”
For this, Acharian was suspended from practicing medicine for one month and will be on probation with the French Medical Council for an additional five months.
Edouard Martial, the patients’ attorney, said after the hearing, “We have the satisfaction of having confirmation that what happened that day was totally abnormal.”
The Times also noted that pro-transgender activist groups claimed transgender patients faced difficulties in finding healthcare – though it should be noted that gynecological exams for biological males are not healthcare.
Author J.K. Rowling and others pointed out how absurd the situation is, with Rowling calling it “Pure insanity.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Pure insanity. <a href="https://t.co/cj0WBywnCx">https://t.co/cj0WBywnCx</a>
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) <a href="https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1885517294459040113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Marguerite Stern, a women&#8217;s rights activist, also told the Times: &#8220;Gynaecologists are only qualified to treat women … We are living in a world of lunatics.&#8221;

Gender Symbols

French Gynecologist Suspended For Refusing To Treat Trans-Identifying Man

French Gynecologist Suspended For Refusing To Treat Trans-Identifying Male

Health

Health Care

Transgender

Transgenders

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/france">French</a> woman has been scammed out of her life savings and even divorced her husband after being duped by AI-generated images of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/brad-pitt">Brad Pitt</a> in the hospital.
The woman, identified as Anne in the interview on the French radio program “Seven to Eight” on the TF1 channel, sent the scammers more than $850,000 over the course of one year. The 53-year-old interior designer explained how she was contacted by someone claiming to be Pitt’s mother via social media.
&#8220;It’s a woman like you that my son needs,&#8221; the woman posing as Pitt’s mother said, per <a href="https://people.com/scammers-brad-pitt-swindled-woman-report-8774403">People</a>. Anne claimed to be skeptical at first but eventually believed it was true after being contacted by someone posing as Pitt himself.
&#8220;At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it&#8217;s ridiculous,&#8221; Anne told TF1. &#8220;But I&#8217;m not used to social media and I didn&#8217;t really understand what was happening to me.&#8221;
At first, Anne sent around $10,000 to help pay customs tariffs as requested by the scammer so she could receive gifts from the person posing as Pitt. She later handed over about $798,000, the bulk of her divorce settlement, to help the person she believed was Pitt pay medical bills. The scammer claimed his bank accounts were frozen due to ongoing divorce proceedings with his ex, Angelina Jolie.
&#8220;There are so few men who write you this kind of thing,&#8221; Anne said during the interview. &#8220;I liked the man I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women, it was always very well done.&#8221;
The impersonator also sent AI-generated photos of what looked like Pitt in the hospital to convince Anne she was helping him pay for kidney treatment. The woman figured out she was being conned after seeing news reports that Pitt was in a relationship with Ines De Ramon.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A french woman was scammed out of over $800K by someone pretending to be Brad Pitt
• Scammer DM&#39;d her on Instagram and convinced her with AI-generated videos and edited images
• She divorced her husband thinking they would get together
• Scammer convinced her his bank… <a href="https://t.co/VWD3RtvIO3">pic.twitter.com/VWD3RtvIO3</a>
&mdash; Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) <a href="https://twitter.com/CultureCrave/status/1879071191299969148?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“I ask myself why they chose me to do such harm like this,” Anne told TF1. “I’ve never harmed anyone. These people deserve hell.”
TF1 has taken down the interview after it went viral due to online harassment Anne began receiving from the public for being gullible enough to fall for the scam, The Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/14/french-tv-show-pulled-ridicule-woman-fell-ai-brad-pitt">noted</a>.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?_gl=1*1lail3r*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzIyMDEyNDkuQ2owS0NRaUEwZnU1QmhEUUFSSXNBTVhVQk9JSkM0VnNsMFVreURxYXUxVWVEVWdOdjZkNzR2Y1pEeEZQeHVBcGl2R3BLaTdBMjVzT1p5TWFBdG1nRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*NDUxNDQ0NzYwLjE3MzY3ODI2NDY.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczNjk1NzYwMy4zNDAuMS4xNzM2OTU3NzE2LjYwLjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?_gl%3D1*1lail3r*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzIyMDEyNDkuQ2owS0NRaUEwZnU1QmhEUUFSSXNBTVhVQk9JSkM0VnNsMFVreURxYXUxVWVEVWdOdjZkNzR2Y1pEeEZQeHVBcGl2R3BLaTdBMjVzT1p5TWFBdG1nRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*NDUxNDQ0NzYwLjE3MzY3ODI2NDY.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczNjk1NzYwMy4zNDAuMS4xNzM2OTU3NzE2LjYwLjAuMA..&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1737044249231000&amp;usg=AOvVaw15fpgzSqdekU8AKrqgMU6V">CELEBRATE #47 WITH 47% OFF DAILYWIRE+ MEMBERSHIPS + A FREE $20 GIFT</a>
A rep for Pitt also commented on the story, reiterating that his client does not have social media, making criminals more likely to use his image for scams. 
“It’s awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities,” the rep said. “But this is an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence.&#8221;

Brad Pitt

Scammer Posing As Brad Pitt Cons French Woman Out Of $850,000

Scammer Posing As Brad Pitt Cons French Woman Out Of $850K Claiming To Need A Kidney

Crime

In December 1914, an observer flying over Western Europe would have gazed down at a most striking, and sinister, topographical feature. Two chains of deep trenches and concertinas of barbed wire slithered in snake-like patterns as far as the eye could see from the English Channel to the Swiss Alps, slicing an unsightly laceration across the blasted out fields of northern France and Belgium.
Hunkered down within these subterranean troughs amid the stench of feces, urine, decaying flesh and gun smoke, squatted the great armies of the Western Front. They glared at each other across a moonscape of water-logged shell craters, trees blown into twisted matchsticks silhouetted against a bleak sky, and grotesquely decomposing bodies of friend and foe alike left to ignominiously rot out in the “no-man’s land” between the lines.
<div id="attachment_848779" style="width: 441px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-848779" class="size-large wp-image-848779" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3067223-431x576.jpg" alt="circa 1914: German soldiers in the trenches during WW I. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" width="431" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3067223-431x576.jpg 431w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3067223-224x300.jpg 224w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3067223.jpg 766w" sizes="(max-width: 431px) 100vw, 431px" />Circa 1914: German soldiers in the trenches during WW I. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)</div>
The big guns to the rear lobbed their deadly payloads down onto bewildered youths, many in their teens, just struggling to survive this eerily troglodytic existence; one that, considering their innocence of life just the year before, must have seemed like a nightmare from which they could not stir.
The war, just five months in, had begun as a conflict of mobility, when in August the Kaiser’s armies, distinct in their steel gray long coats and spiked pickelhaube helmets, confidently marched through Belgium to strike at the French in a drive towards Paris and victory. But the poilus and their British Expeditionary Force (BEF) allies rallied at the Marne, just 30 miles from the French capital, and threw the Germans back in a bloodletting that shocked the world.
A series of failed attempts to outflank the other sent casualties on both sides soaring, but no breakthroughs were made, and the front stabilized. In a very short time the troops settled in, burrowing deep into the ground to escape the killing power of the new technological age of machine guns and fast-firing artillery. And there they remained, stagnant, immobile, rain soaked, miserable.
And yet even in the trenches, the very monument to man’s savagery and folly, hopeful demonstrations of the better angels of our nature could occur. And so it was on Christmas 1914, that one of the most poignant scenes in the history of warfare took place.
While the men of the BEF settled into their trenches to try and celebrate the holiday as best they could, strange sounds began to drift over from the German lines. Singing. “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht / Alles schläft; einsam wacht …”
British Private Frank Sumter recalled: “And then we heard the Germans singing ‘Silent Night, Holy Night.’ And our boys said ‘Let’s join in.’ So we joined in with the song.” At first, the British sentries weren’t sure what to make of the German activity, which included lighting festive candles on the rim of their trenches. Nervous Tommies peeked their heads up over the parapets then quickly ducked back down for fear of snipers.
But no one shot.
<div id="attachment_848753" style="width: 756px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-848753" class="size-large wp-image-848753" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-506037221-746x576.jpg" alt="British and German meeting in No Man's Land during unofficial true Christmas 1914. Northumberland Hussars, 7th Division, Bridoux-Banks Sector. (Photo by: Robert Hunt/Windmill Books/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)" width="746" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-506037221-746x576.jpg 746w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-506037221-300x232.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-506037221-768x593.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-506037221.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 746px) 100vw, 746px" />British and German meeting in No Man&#8217;s Land during unofficial true Christmas 1914. Northumberland Hussars, 7th Division, Bridoux-Banks Sector. (Photo by: Robert Hunt/Windmill Books/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)</div>
Pvt. Leslie Walkington remembered the extraordinary event that followed. “And then we saw a German standing up, waving his arms. And we didn’t shoot.” Instead of a battle cry, the Germans were calling out to their British Kameraden to have a truce and celebrate Christmas together. The men on both sides of the lines eventually overcame their suspicions and climbed out of their trenches. They met out in the open, offering enemies not the cold steel of thrusting bayonets, but rather the warm flesh of extended hands.
A German Lieutenant Neimann picked up his binoculars and to his surprise &#8220;saw the incredible sight of our soldiers exchanging cigarettes, schnapps and chocolate with the enemy!&#8221;
There is a commonality among soldiers that transcends national politics or flag. By this time in the war, both sides had shared the same experiences of chronic fear, physical misery and illness, filth, mourning lost friends, and homesickness. The truce extended to parts of the French sector as well. Gustave Berthier wrote to his parents, &#8220;On Christmas Day the Boches made a sign showing they wished to speak to us. They said they didn&#8217;t want to shoot. &#8230; They were tired of making war, they were married like me.&#8221;
A common legend of the Christmas Truce of 1914 has it that the enemy combatants engaged in impromptu games of football (soccer) in the “no-man’s land” but some historians dispute the legitimacy of such claims. Although, given the Christmas miracle that occurred right in the middle of a war so terrible that author William Manchester described it as “the worst thing that had ever happened” it is not out of the question.
One can imagine the words of Thomas Hardy’s poem “The Man He Killed” on the minds of every soldier no matter the uniform, on this most magical of Christmases at the front: 
 
Had he and I but met 
By some old ancient inn, 
We should have set us down to wet, 
Right many a nipperkin! 
 
But ranged as infantry 
And staring face to face, 
I shot at him as he at me 
And killed him in his place… 
 
Yes; quaint and curious a thing war is! 
You shoot a fellow down 
You’d treat if met where any bar is 
Or help to half-a-crown.
For nearly two and a half billion Christians of every race and nationality across the globe, Christmas is a joyous celebration of the birth of Our Lord, now two millennia in the past, and yet still so powerful in its meaning and presence in our lives. One hundred ten years ago, in the middle of a grisly battlefield, in the middle of a ghastly war, the love of Christ and the affection He wishes us to bestow upon each other was alive and well amidst a scene of unprecedented violence and suffering. Indeed, on this day, at this time, enemies could lay down their arms, exchange warm greetings and gifts, and, if for a short time, fulfill the Christmas promise of peace on earth and good will towards all mankind.
But Mars is not so benevolent a god; sadly, if inevitably, the truce didn’t last.
Irate officers on both sides put an end to what very well could have been considered treasonous fraternization with the enemy. Even a capital crime.
Pvt. Archibald Stanley remembered how one of his officers abruptly canceled the informal truce in his section of the trenches. There were still a few Germans out in the open when he approached Stanley and said, “You still got the armistice?”
The grim officer then picked up a rifle, took cold aim, and promptly shot one of the Germans dead. The rest leapt back into their dugouts, and returned fire. And so the war began again.
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a fund manager and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07MQJBJSD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three books</a>. His articles have appeared on the pages of Daily Wire, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, New York Daily News, National Review, The Hill, The Federalist, The Blaze, Breitbart, Zerohedge and other outlets. You can follow him on <a href="https://x.com/bschaeffer123" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X</a> and <a href="https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Substack</a> 

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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