#MarineLePen spotted in #TrumpTower

Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right Front National party and French presidential hopeful, was spotted in Trump Tower today (12 January). Le Pen - known for her euroscepticism and pro-Putin views - will not quell speculation on a future Trump administration's relationship with the EU and Russia.

Sean Spicer, Trumps Communications Director, told CNN reporter Noah Gray that the Le Pen was not there to meet the President-elect or any member of his transition team.

.@seanspicer tells me Marine le Pen is NOT meeting w/ PEOTUS or anyone else from transition team. Adds “Trump Tower is open to the Public”

— Noah Gray (@NoahGrayCNN) January 12, 2017

George Lombardi, Co-Founder of ‘Citizens for Trump’ was identified as her collocutor in the photo above. Lombardi’s website says that he was a consultant for the Italian coalition government of Forza Italia and Lega Nord. Lega Nord is a sister party of the Front National in the Europe of Nations and Freedom Group in the European Parliament. He also describes himself as a “co-founder of a number of social media groups supporting Trump, (…including…) Students 4 Trump.” He is also based in Trump tower.

In an interview with ITV, last year, Le Pen said that should she win French presidential elections she would cooperate with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, claiming a Russian, American and French alliance would be good for world peace.

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Le Pen at odds with EU and NATO

In December, the European Council decided to prolong economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy until 31 July 2017. The sanctions were imposed after the illegal annexation of Crimea and the failure to fully implement the Minsk agreement. The EU also strongly condemned Putin’s support for President Assad in the Syrian conflict.

Le Pen has also questioned the role of NATO. NATO has recently strengthened its presence in Poland. In early October Putin transported nuclear-capable ballistic missiles to Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea north of Poland that’s surrounded by NATO countries. The move was seen as further aggressive move by Russia.

Le Pen has promised a renegotiation on France's membership of the EU and a referendum within six months, should she win May’s elections. She has also actively supported other parties intent on undermining the EU.

Uncorroborated dossier

Le Pen’s visit comes just a day after Trump’s controversial first press conference as President-elect. The conference was dominated by questions on the leaked document that was presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump. The document allegedly sourced from Russian operatives included allegations of compromising personal and financial information.

Trump dismissed the leaked document as ‘fake news’. The Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper, issued a statement after Trump’s press conference confirming that he had had the opportunity to speak with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss recent media reports. Clapper expressed his profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press, he described them as “extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security”.

Clapper acknowledged that the document put together by a private security company – linked to a former MI6 agent - was widely circulated in recent months among the media, members of Congress and Congressional staff before it came to the attention of the intelligence community.

He said that the U.S. Intelligence Community had not made any judgment on whether the information in the document is reliable. However, he said that it was part of his role to ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security.

Trump in golden elevator with Farage

Trump has demonstrated his anti-EU credentials through his support for Brexit and Nigel Farage; he even took the extraordinarily undiplomatic and unprecedented step of suggesting in a tweet - his favoured medium - that Farage would make a great ambassador for the United Kingdom to the United States.

Farage, like Le Pen, is an admirer of Vladimir Putin.

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