France's top diplomat Monday requested that US Ambassador Charles Kushner no longer be allowed direct access to members of the French government after he skipped a meeting to discuss comments by the Trump administration over the beating death of a far-right activist, the AP reports. French authorities had summoned Kushner, the father of US President Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, to the Quai d'Orsay, which houses the Foreign Affairs Ministry, on Monday evening but he did not show up, according to diplomatic sources.
Jean-Noel Barrot, the foreign affairs minister, moved to restrict Kushner's access "in light of this apparent misunderstanding of the basic expectations of the mission of an ambassador, who has the honor of representing his country." The ministry, however, left the door open for reconciliation. "It remains, of course, possible for Ambassador Charles Kushner to carry out his duties and present himself at the Quai d'Orsay, so that we may hold the diplomatic discussions needed to smooth over the irritants that can inevitably arise in a friendship spanning 250 years," it said.
Kushner had been summoned following statements by the US Embassy and the State Department's Counterterrorism Bureau regarding the killing of Quentin Deranque, a far-right activist who died of brain injuries this month after a beating in the French city of Lyon. He was attacked during a fight on the margins of a student meeting where a far-left lawmaker was a keynote speaker. His killing highlighted a climate of deep political tension ahead of next year's presidential vote. "We reject any instrumentalization of this tragedy, which has plunged a French family into mourning, for political ends," Barrot said over the weekend. "We have no lessons to learn, particularly on the issue of violence, from the international reactionary movement."
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