U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (October 20) French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was "badly treated" when asked if he would endorse her for the country's presidential election.

Trump said he did not know her personally and called her "the conservative voice" of France.

The Republican repeatedly blamed migration for protests in France.

The turmoil shocked France because of both its scale and the apparent inability of police to contain it, inflaming tensions ahead of presidential elections next year with candidates from the far right and hard left performing strongly in polls.

Protests in other European countries, including Italy and Albania, have added to concerns that anger over living standards risks spreading around the continent at a time when many nations, including France, are struggling with budget woes.

A night of relative calm in France followed targeted curfews imposed in several areas affected by the chaos, which the government said had helped reassert control. The localized curfews, some directed at children and teenagers under age 18, were extended to Tuesday night, police said.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 20, 2026) (UNRESTRICTED POOL - Access all)

1. U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SEATED DURING OVAL OFFICE EVENT

2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING IN EXCHANGE WITH REPORTER:

REPORTER ASKING OFF CAMERA: “With France, you’ve seen the economic conditions in France at the moment. You see what the picture is coming from France at the moment. How concerned are you that the socialist agenda will bring some of the same financial difficulties to the United States?

TRUMP: “Well, we’ve done a couple of things different. Number one, I mentioned the word growth. We have more growth. We will have at the end of this year within the next little while, it's already happening very substantially. We have more growth in this country has ever had, and we have more growth in any country in the world is having right now. France has no growth. France is growing the other way. And that's because of social programs and brutal. And no matter what you do. I mean, it's not enough, but I still say and I say it and some people think it's so controversial, I don't care. It's an immigration problem. You have people that poured into France and they were also unchecked, unvetted like with Biden when he was doing we don't do that. We get many of them out.”

3. REPORTERS IN OVAL OFFICE

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING IN EXCHANGE WITH REPORTER:

REPORTER ASKING OFF CAMERA: "Given the riots in France. Are you planning to endorse Marine Le Pen for the presidential election next year?”

TRUMP: “Well, I don't know her. I haven't met her, but I thought she was badly treated, and what looked like a weaponization to me when they did what they did, it would look to me like, you know, she was leading. But after this, she's definitely, she's the conservative voice.”

5. REPORTERS IN OVAL OFFICE

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“But I was testing them (European leaders). I just called individual presidents and prime ministers to ask would they like to help us? And they said 'no.' I said, 'Oh, that's not nice.' You know, we spend hundreds of billions a year on NATO. And they said no, but they were nice enough to give us Greenland despite all the bad talk. ‘Oh, he's not going to get it.’ We got it. We got Greenland. And it's a great relationship we have with, frankly, Europe. But they have to straighten out their act. Otherwise there won't be a Europe left. There'll be nothing to be for anyway. If you look at what's going on in France, I've been doing this stuff for a long time and I've been watching other countries for a long time. I have never seen anything like that. That wasn’t a little bit of a riot. That wasn’t a little bit of a protest. That was, that was a full on revolution. And it continues and it continues. So, you know, we want to be helpful. We want to be with them and all. But you're not going to have a Europe pretty soon if they keep going. And it's mostly immigration.”

7. TRUMP AND OFFICIALS IN OVAL OFFICE

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“You have people coming into countries that don't like the countries. Somebody said it very well. I said it very well. They don't like the buildings, they don't like the art. They don't like anything about the country, and they don't like the people. They have no reason not to do what they did in France. And I told President Macron, who's a friend of mine. I have known him right from the beginning, right after I got elected the first time I got to meet him, I liked him. I still like him. But I said, if you don't stop the immigration problem, you're not going to have a country left. And I said that to Germany and I said it to the UK. I mean, you take a look at the UK, they have a mayor in London who is horrible. I mean, he's just absolutely horrible and so bad what's happened to London, what's happened to Paris. If they don't stop it and remove people, I'm not just talking about stop. You got to remove people, get them the hell out. But they're not going to have, they're not going to have a European Union. They're not going to have anything. I like the people. They're friends of mine, I guess indirectly, indirectly that's where I came from. Right? Some of us come from that part, that neck of the woods.”

9. REPORTERS IN OVAL OFFICE

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“But they better get moving because they don't have much time. When you look at France and it happened in Italy too. Smaller scale, but it's right there. It's simmering. If you don't get that out and you're going to have to remove the people, you're going to have to remove those people that are insurrectionists. You have to get them out of the country. You can't just say, 'oh, we won't take anymore.' And they continue to take I mean, again, take a look at Spain. Just a couple of weeks ago, a hundred and somewhat thousand people and in just a matter of minutes rushed into the country. They don't do anything about it. I don't know where they're living. I don't know, it's a crazy situation going on.”

11. TRUMP AND OFFICIALS DURING OVAL OFFICE EVENT