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France’s far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen was seen at Trump Tower on Thursday but a spokesman for US president-elect Donald Trump said she was not meeting him or his team.
“No meetings with anyone,” transition spokesman Sean Spicer said. “It’s a public building.”
Ms Le Pen, whose National Front party holds anti-immigrant and anti-European Union views, was seen entering an elevator at the building, according to a Reuters witness. Earlier she was seen in the building with three men and declined to say why she was there, a media pool report said.
The men were identified by Reuters as Louis Aliot, her partner and vice-president of National Front; Ludovic de Danne, her international affairs adviser; and Italian businessman George Lombardi, a Trump friend who lives in Trump Tower.
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Ms Le Pen, who is seen losing a runoff with conservative former prime minister François Fillon in next May’s election, has struggled to raise money for her campaign.
Her staff confirmed her multiple-day visit to New York, characterising it as a private trip.
“She took two days to have a break,” campaign director David Rachline said.
Ms Le Pen has sought to burnish her credentials with foreign appearances. Her staff in April announced that she would go to Britain to campaign for that country’s exit from the European Union but she ended up not going after being shunned by the Brexit campaign.
Warning
Trump Tower has been the site of a series of meetings between Mr Trump, a Republican, and business and political leaders as he assembles his administration ahead of his January 20th inauguration. It also has become a tourist destination since Trump’s surprise November election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The group Human Rights Watch mentioned both Mr Trump and Ms Le Pen in a report warning that the rise of populist leaders threatens global human rights. It cited Mr Trump’s victory as well as Britain’s move to leave the European Union, which was led by Nigel Farage, who has been praised by Mr Trump.
Ms Le Pen is expected to earn enough votes in the first round of presidential voting in April to enter a second round election set for May 7th.
Last summer Ms Le Pen told a French magazine that if she were American, she would vote for Trump rather than Clinton. A week after Mr Trump's victory, Ms Le Pen said she, Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin "would be good for world peace". – (Reuters)