French National Assembly Deputy Marine Le Pen appeared before a French appeals court on Tuesday to begin a trial that will shape the future of the nation’s presidential elections.
The trial will reexamine the conviction of the National Rally leader in 2025 for “embezzlement of public funds” and “complicity in the embezzlement of public funds.” It will also determine whether she is capable of running to replace French President Emmanuel Macron when he leaves office next year.
“I hope I’ll be able to convince the judges of my innocence,” Le Pen told reporters on Monday. “It’s a new court with new judges. The case will be reset, so to speak.”
While the trial is expected to conclude on Feb. 12, the judges’ ruling is expected to come in June.
A Paris court found Le Pen guilty of misusing European Parliament funds in March of last year, handing down a four-year prison term. She would not be mandated to actually serve time behind bars, with two years of the term suspended and the rest to be served with an electronic monitoring bracelet.
The sentence also included a fine of nearly $135,000 and, most crucially, a five-year ban on running for public office.
Le Pen, among the most popular right-wing politicians in France and a three-time candidate for president, planned to run once again when Macron’s term elapses in May of next year.
National Rally currently holds a comfortable position at the top of French polls with 34% support compared to the second-place New Popular Front, a broad left-wing bloc.
If Le Pen’s sentence is sustained and she is unable to run for the presidency in 2027, her surrogate is well understood — her protege and current National Rally president, Jordan Bardella.
The 30-year-old rising star of European conservatism was groomed for years to be prime minister under a Le Pen presidency, but the current legal woes could thrust him into the race for France’s most powerful office.
Bardella previously rebuked his mentor’s 2025 conviction as “interference from political judges” and “a dark day for France.”
A poll conducted by firm Verian for French publications Le Monde and L’Hémicycle at the beginning of the year found Bardella could prove more electable in 2027.
While President Donald Trump has not weighed in on Le Pen’s trial in months, he has previously voiced strong support for the right-wing leader.
THOUSANDS GATHER TO SUPPORT MARINE LE PEN AFTER EMBEZZLEMENT CONVICTION: ‘JUDICIAL DICTATORSHIP’
“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 said in a post on Truth Social.
His advocacy for Le Pen seems to be based on what he sees as parallels between her situation and his 2024 legal woes, alleging that French authorities are using the “same ‘playbook’ that was used against me.”