Overview
- France restricted Ambassador Charles Kushner’s meetings with government ministers after he failed to attend a foreign ministry summons.
- Kushner later phoned Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, said he would not interfere in France’s public debate, and they agreed to meet in the coming days.
- The summons followed posts by the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau, reshared by the U.S. Embassy in Paris, that framed Quentin Deranque’s killing as evidence of rising violent radical leftism.
- Barrot called the comments an inappropriate intrusion and said access would be restored once Kushner provides explanations, stressing broader Franco‑U.S. ties should not be harmed.
- French authorities continue a criminal probe into Deranque’s death with multiple preliminary charges, and this is the second time Kushner has been summoned after a prior rebuke last August.