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Musk slams Le Pen ruling, says it will ‘backfire’ like Trump’s as some on global right face legal troubles

JERUSALEM — The stunning court conviction of popular right-wing politician Marine Le Pen on Monday for embezzlement sparked outrage from President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency head, Elon Musk, who compared her fate to Trump’s legal troubles.
Musk said after the verdict that, «This will backfire, like the legal attacks against President Trump.» Musk pinned the blame on the left for the conviction of Le Pen. He wrote on X, «When the radical left can’t win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents. This is their standard playbook throughout the world.»
The conviction of Le Pen, which bans her from running for office for five years, comes amid legal prosecutions of other right-wing politicians, ranging from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Romania’s Călin Georgescu to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
TRUMP’S VICTORY COULD GIVE BOOST TO BRAZIL’S BOLSONARO’S RE-ELECTION HOPES AMID COURT BAN ON HIM RUNNING
French right-wing leader Marine Le Pen arrives at a Paris court expected to deliver a verdict in an embezzlement case on Monday, March 31, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Fox News Digital reported last year, after a Manhattan jury convicted then-former President Trump of falsifying business records, that legal experts saw similarities between his case and the ongoing corruption prosecution against Netanyahu.
When asked on Monday about Le Pen’s sentence, Trump told reporters it was «a big deal,» adding, «But she was banned for running for five years, and she’s the leading candidate. That sounds like this country, that sounds very much like this country.»
Other cases where world leaders and politicians on the right have been targeted include Netanyahu, who was charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a legal saga that started four years ago and is still unfolding. Netanyahu has flatly denied all the accusations against him.

Calin Georgescu, the winner of Romania’s first round of the presidential election, annulled by the Constitutional Court, waves to supporters gathered for a protest outside the Romanian parliament in Bucharest, Romania, on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexandru Dobre, File)
Romania’s right-wing presidential frontrunner, Georgescu, was barred from the race under criminal charges he compared to those Trump faced.
«We are faced with a communist regime as well,» Georgescu told Fox News Digital just before a Romanian electoral bureau barred him from running in a May presidential election rerun. Prosecutors opened a criminal case against him two weeks prior.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the press as he arrives at the Brasilia International Airport in Brasilia, Brazil, on March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis Nova)
Just last week, Brazil’s Supreme Court accepted charges against former President Bolsonaro over an alleged attempt to remain in office after his 2022 election defeat, ordering the former leader to stand trial.
Italy’s Vice Premier Matteo Salvini, who was cleared in December of illegally detaining migrants, called his case «a declaration of war by Brussels.»
Eugene Kontorovich, a legal expert and senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, told Fox News Digital, «France follows the pattern of political prosecutions in the U.S. and Israel, where criminal prosecutions for obscure victimless offenses are used to knock out popular leaders of right wing parties, and use to courts to stand between the electorate and their preferred candidates. It is unlikely these cases are all happening within a year of each other: Leftists around the world are learning from, and legitimizing, each other’s tactics.»
ROMANIA BLOCKS FRONTRUNNER FROM POSTPONED PRESIDENTIAL RACE

President Donald Trump, right, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak during a news conference in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Brandon/AP)
The heart of the embezzlement case revolves around accusations against Le Pen and more than 20 other National Rally figures who allegedly used EU funds to hire employees to work for the National Rally instead of matters involving the European Parliament as required by EU regulations in Brussels.
The French court also imposed a four-year prison sentence on Le Pen. The conviction unleashed a political earthquake in France, where the next presidential election is slated for 2027.
Right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of Trump, posted in French on social media a solidarity message, «Je suis Marine!» («I am Marine»), an apparent reference to the slogan «Je suis Charlie» that was formulated after radical Islamist terrorists murdered journalists in 2015 from the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris.
Le Pen has transformed the anti-immigration party National Rally (formerly called the National Front) into a serious political force that is a legitimate contender to win the 2027 presidential election.

Marine Le Pen, president of the National Rally group in the National Assembly, joins Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally (Rassemblement National), at the final rally before the recently held European Parliament election on June 9. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
She ousted her father, the late Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded the National Front, and rejected his antisemitism. He was fined for terming the Holocaust gas chambers a «detail of history».
Marine Le Pen’s protégé, the 29-year-old Jordan Bardella, recently spoke last week at an Israeli government conference on combating antisemitism. He is expected to take over the National Rally. He urged a «peaceful mobilization» to protest the verdict.
According to French24, Bardella said the guilty verdict has «killed» French democracy. His party launched a petition that states:»It is no longer the government of judges, but the dictatorship of judges, which wishes to prevent the French people from expressing themselves.»
Le Pen’s lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, announced that he would appeal the verdict.
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Leader of Italy’s right-wing League Party Matteo Salvini reacts as he leaves a court after a hearing in the trial against him on charges of kidnapping over his decision to prevent more than 100 migrants from landing in the country in 2019, in Palermo, Italy, on Oct. 23, 2021. (REUTERS/Antonio Parrinello)
«I am shocked by the incredibly tough verdict against Marine Le Pen,» said Holland’s right-wing politician, Geert Wilders, who has been dubbed the Dutch version of Trump.
He added,»I support and believe in her 100% and I trust she will win the appeal and become President of France.»
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
INTERNACIONAL
¿Qué pasaría si Trump decide atacar a Irán o asesinar a su líder?

Irán podría negociar
Irán podría inclinarse hacia la actividad nuclear
La guerra podría volverse más grande y complicada
Hablando de cambio de régimen
El pueblo de Irán podría levantarse de nuevo
INTERNACIONAL
‘No basis in reality’: Expert turns tables on key Democrat claim against Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

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Democrats in Washington, D.C., are misrepresenting major criticisms of President Trump’s «big beautiful bill» with incorrect facts, according to an expert who spoke to Fox News Digital this week as Trump’s budget reconciliation package is debated in Congress.
«The bill doesn’t cut benefits for anyone who has income below the poverty line, anyone who is working at least 20 hours a week and not caring for a child, and people who are Americans,» Jim Agresti, president and cofounder of Just Facts, told Fox News Digital in response to criticisms from Democrats and a handful of Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley, that Trump’s bill will cut Medicaid and disproportionately hurt the poor.
«In other words, it cuts out illegal immigrants who are not Americans and fraudsters. So that narrative has no basis in reality. See, what’s been going on since the Medicaid program was started? Is that it’s been expanded and expanded and extended. You know, it got its start in 1966. And since that time, the poverty rate has stayed roughly level around 11% to 15%. While the portion of people in the United States on Medicaid has skyrocketed from 3% to 29%. Right now, 2.5 times more people are on Medicaid than are in poverty.»
Medicaid cuts and reform have been a major sticking point with Democrats, who have merged data from two new reports from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to back up claims that nearly 14 million would lose coverage. The White House and Republicans have objected, as not all the policy proposals evaluated were actually included in Republicans’ legislation, and far fewer people would actually face insurance loss.
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Fox News Digital spoke to Just Facts President Jim Agresti about President Trump’s bill. (Getty/Fox News Digital)
Instead, Republicans argue that their proposed reforms to implement work requirements, strengthen eligibility checks and crack down on Medicaid for illegal immigrants preserve the program for those who really need it.
«I agree,» Dem. Rep. Jasmine Crockett said in response to a claim on CNN that Republicans «want poor people to die» with Medicaid cuts.
Agresti told Fox News Digital that the Medicaid cuts are aimed at bringing people out of poverty and waste.
«It’s putting some criteria down to say, ‘Hey, if you want this, and you’re not in poverty, you need to work,’» Agresti said. «You need to do something to better your situation, which is what these programs are supposed to be, lifting people out of poverty, not sticking them there for eternity. So the whole idea is to get people working, give them an incentive. Hey, if you want to do better in life, and you want this Medicaid coverage, then you have to earn it.»
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders has claimed the bill is a «death sentence for the working class,» because it raises health insurance «copayments for poor people.»
DEMS ‘DELIBERATELY OBFUSCATING’ TRUTH ABOUT ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ WITH THIS CLAIM: WATCHDOG

Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered a response speech to President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress. (Joe Maher/Getty Images For Fane)
Agresti called that claim «outlandish.»
«First of all, the Big Beautiful Bill does not raise copayments on anyone who’s below the poverty line,» he explained. «Now, for people who are above the poverty line, it requires states to at least charge some sort of copayment, and it also reduces, actually, the max copayment from $100 per visit to $35 per visit.»
Agresti went on to explain that under the current system, «people have basically free rein to just go to a doctor or an emergency room or any other place without any co-payment, and they’re not in poverty.»
«What ends up happening is they waste a ton of money,» Agresti said. «This has been proven through randomized control trials, which are the gold standard for social science analysis, where you have people in a lottery system, some people get the benefit, and some people don’t, and what you end up seeing is that people who don’t have to have skin in the game, abuse emergency rooms, they go there for a stuffy nose, rack up all this money, and it does nothing to improve their health. It’s just wasteful.»
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Sanders Communications Director Anna Bahr said, «Mr. Agresti’s facts here are simply incorrect.»
Sanders’ office added that «nearly half of all enrollees on the ACA exchanges are Republicans» and pointed to the House-passed reconciliation bill that Sanders’ office argues «says that if a worker can’t navigate the maze of paperwork that the bill creates for Medicaid enrollees, they are barred from receiving ACA tax credits as well.»
«But workers must earn at least $15,650 per year to qualify for tax credits on the ACA marketplaces – approximately equal to the annual income for a full-time worker earning the federal minimum wage.»
Sanders’ office also pointed to «CBO estimates that 16 million people will lose insurance as a result of the House-passed bill and the Republicans ending the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits.»
Sanders’ office also reiterated that the House-passed bill makes a «fundamental change» to copay for Medicaid beneficiaries, shifting from optional to mandatory.
«While claiming that I’m ‘incorrect,’ Sanders’ staff fails to provide a single fact that shows the BBB cuts health care for poor working Americans,» Agresti responded.
«It’s especially laughable that they cite expanded Obamacare subsidies in this context, because people in poverty aren’t even eligible for them,» Agresti continued. «After this ‘temporary’ Covid-era handout expires, people with incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty level — or $150,600 for a family of five — will still be eligible for this welfare program, although they will receive less.»
Agresti argued that the claim a «max $35 copay (for people who are not poor) ‘hurts working families’» is not supported by research «which makes generalizations and merely cites ‘associations.’»
«As commonly taught in high school math, association doesn’t prove causation,» Agresti said.
Sanders’ office told Fox News Digital, «Mr. Agresti seems to believe that a working family of four earning only $32,150 per year doesn’t deserve help affording their health care. Health care in the United States is more expensive than anywhere in the world. Terminating health care coverage for 16 million Americans and increasing health care costs for millions will make it harder for working people to afford the health care they need, even if Mr. Agresti doesn’t agree.»
Agresti also took issue with the narrative that cuts cannot be made to Medicaid without cutting benefits to people who are entitled to them.
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The Capitol Building from the National Mall in Washington D.C., on Friday, August 9, 2024. (Aaron Schwartz/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
«The Government Accountability Office has put out figures that are astonishing, hundreds of billions of dollars a year are going to waste,» Agresti said. «So, yeah, some criteria to make sure that doesn’t happen is a wise idea. Unfortunately, there is a ton of white-collar crime in this country, and this kind of crime is a white-collar crime. It’s not committed with a gun, or by robbing or punching someone, it’s committed by fraud, and there’s an enormous amount of it.
«And the big, beautiful bill, again, seeks to rein that in by putting a criteria to make sure we’re checking people’s income, we’re checking their assets. A lot of these federal programs, government health care programs, they’ve stopped checking assets. So you could be a lottery winner sitting on $3 million in cash and have very little income. And still get children’s health insurance program benefits for your kids.»
Hawley said on Monday that he did not have a problem with some of the marquee changes to Medicaid that his House Republican counterparts wanted, including stricter work requirements, booting illegal immigrants from benefit rolls and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the program that serves tens of millions of Americans.
However, he noted that about 1.3 million Missourians rely on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and contended that most were working.
«These are not people who are sitting around, these are people who are working,» he said. «They’re on Medicaid because they cannot afford private health insurance, and they don’t get it on the job.»
«And I just think it’s wrong to go to those people and say, ‘Well, you know, we know you’re doing the best, we know that you’re working hard, but we’re going to take away your health care access,’» he continued.
Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Alex Miller contributed to this report.
INTERNACIONAL
Crece el movimiento “prepper”: quiénes son y cómo se preparan para sobrevivir a fenómenos extremos

Guerras en Ucrania y Medio Oriente. Inundaciones devastadoras en Valencia y Bahía Blanca. Apagones masivos en España y Argentina. Terremotos desoladores en Turquía y Siria y hasta una pandemia que encerró a toda la humanidad durante meses.
Los fenómenos extremos causados por el hombre, la naturaleza o el cambio climático impulsaron el desarrollo del movimiento “prepper” en todo el mundo, en especial en Estados Unidos, Europa y ahora en América Latina en general y Argentina en particular.
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Son personas que buscan estar listas para enfrentar situaciones límites por varios días o meses y, en casos extremos, hasta para sobrevivir a escenarios posapocalípticos. ¿Qué hacen? No solo acumulan alimentos y los elementos necesarios para subsistir un tiempo. También toman cursos de supervivencia y hasta aprenden a manejar armas, cazar y crear una huerta.
Por muchos años, Hollywood se encargó de identificarlos como unos “locos” armados hasta los dientes y atrincherados en búnkeres subterráneos a la espera del fin del mundo o una invasión zombie, en especial en los Estados Unidos.
Pero en Argentina y en otros muchos países, los “preppers” se alistan para situaciones complejas, como una severa inundación, o más simples, como la pérdida del trabajo.
”Cuando pasó la inundación en Bahía Blanca (que causó 18 muertos y decenas de miles de damnificados en marzo) el movimiento creció 23% en Argentina. Y todos los nuevos miembros eran de esa ciudad» bonaerense, dijo a TN Leandro Azzolin, creador del primer grupo “prepper” del país.
Hoy se estima que existen unos 25.000 “preparacionistas” en todo el territorio nacional, nucleados en páginas de Facebook y en subgrupos unidos por aplicaciones de mensajería como Telegram o WhatsApp.
Por qué crece el movimiento preparacionista
No es un fenómeno nuevo. Comenzó con la Guerra Fría y los búnkeres nucleares creados por millonarios estadounidenses. Hoy es más masivo y concreto. Muchos llegan a obsesionarse por las películas de ciencia ficción, pero la mayoría busca solo estar lista para cuidar a sus familias en casos extremos.
El mayor impulso al movimiento “prepper” se dio tras la pandemia de coronavirus y sus interminables “cuarentenas”. Pero los fenómenos climáticos no cesan y atraen cada día a más “preparacionistas”.
Un kit de supervivencia básico para preparacionistas (Foto: Cortesía/ TheTruePrepper)
En internet proliferan las tiendas “prepper”. Incluso en países como Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido hay locales físicos que se dedican a este tipo de mercado. En Argentina hay sitios on line que venden kits de supervivencia (con pedernal, silbato, linterna, cuchillo, brújula y lámpara, entre otros elementos) desde 34.900 pesos. Otros sitios internacionales ofrecen mochilas premium para 72 horas por 300 dólares. Hay precios para todos los bolsillos.
“El crecimiento prepper se debe al Covid y la guerra en Ucrania. En el caso de España, hubo fenómenos como la Dana de Valencia (que causó más de 200 muertos en noviembre pasado) y un apagón masivo que afectó durante casi un día a todo el país. Son hechos que hacen entender a muchas personas que el sistema de bienestar no siempre está garantizado», dijo a TN el español Víctor Suárez, administrador del grupo de Facebook “prepper” en su país.
El preparacionismo está tan latente en Europa que la propia Unión Europea recomendó a cada habitante tener un kit de supervivencia de al menos 72 horas. En un inédito llamado en marzo pasado, pidió a la población “contar con reservas de agua y comida, medicamentos, baterías y otros objetos que pueden resultar clave para afrontar una crisis.
Cómo es la preparación para una emergencia
Lo básico es contar con una mochila con todos los elementos que propuso la UE. Es lo mínimo que se necesita según el manual “prepper”.
Suárez dijo: “El objetivo es prepararse para una emergencia. Es complicado cubrir todos los factores posibles. Podríamos considerar emergencia desde algo tan cotidiano como un accidente de auto hasta fenómenos más complejos como guerras”.
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“La experiencia ayuda a la resolución de problemas. Saber de medicina puede cubrir cualquier situación sanitaria. Manejar armas, o poseer conocimientos de defensa personal, resuelve situaciones ante actos violentos. El preparacionismo tiene que ver con una filosofía de vida”, señaló.
La preparación varía según la persona. “Se suele hablar generalmente de un mínimo de 72 horas, aunque no estaría mal (tener asegurada la supervivencia) para dos o tres semanas. Más allá de ese tiempo, sería buscarse la vida. Es imposible tener comida y agua por un año”, comentó.
El fenómeno se vive en especial en Occidente. “Nació en Estados Unidos por la Guerra Fría. Poco a poco la idea se fue trasladando a Europa”, indicó Suárez, de 35 años y que trabaja como repartidor.
Ahora, el movimiento comienza a crecer en América Latina y en la Argentina en particular.
Qué pasa con el preparacionismo en la Argentina
En la Argentina el preparacionismo viene creciendo en los últimos años. No es tan fuerte como en Chile, donde se calcula que hay entre 60.000 a 140.000 “preppers”.
“En el país y en casi toda América Latina nos agrupamos a través de Facebook y después la gente se junta en subgrupos para prepararse más exhaustivamente, con más recursos y en un marco de secretismo”, contó Azzolin, de 43 años y que vive con su esposa, Alejandra, también preparacionista, y sus dos hijos.
En estos núcleos hay una regla muy clara. No se habla de política, de religión ni de fútbol. “Son temas que desvirtúan el grupo”, indicó.
En su casa tiene todo listo para sobrevivir un tiempo, pero prefiere no dar su ubicación. “En el primer cordón bonaerense”, afirmó. No quiere que nadie sepa donde vive.
“Empecé en 2006 cuando escuché sobre el Calendario Maya que presagiaba el fin del mundo para 2012. Entonces me armé una mochila y empecé a desarrollar el resto de la preparación”, que incluyó el manejo de armas por un breve paso por la carrera militar, confió.

Leandro Azzolin, fundador del primer grupo preparacionista argentino, aprendió a manejar armas (Foto: Cortesía/Leandro Azzolin)
Al tiempo descubrió que existía un movimiento “prepper” en el mundo, pero ninguno en el país. “Creé el primer grupo de la Argentina y soy cofundador de otros seis en la región. Además, tengo el orgullo de contar con la biblioteca de preparacionismo más vasta de América Latina”, contó.
El preparacionista, según aclaró, no es un simple acumulador de recursos.
“Lo que hacemos es prepararnos. Hacemos cursos, ya sea de supervivencia, tiro, primeros auxilios, cría de animales, herboristería y hasta manejar el arco y flecha y hacer un campamento”, comentó.
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Azzolin dijo que los preparacionistas argentinos no tienen nada que ver con la imagen de los “preppers” estadounidenses. “La sociedad norteamericana se basa en el principio de que ´mientras más armas tenga más gente voy a matar para sobrevivir. Están equivocados´“, sostuvo.
“En Argentina no somos locos. No tenemos ideología, ni somos un grupo religioso, ni político, ni etario. Me da igual si sos heterosexual o LGTB. Solo necesitamos mantener la cohesión para cubrir cinco elementos principales de la supervivencia: agua, fuego, comida, refugio y primeros auxilios”, precisó.
Según contó, cada persona pueda pautar el tiempo para su supervivencia. “Puede tener una mochila de 72 horas, para cinco días o para el no retorno”, detalló.
“En Estados Unidos se preparan para el caos económico, la tercera guerra mundial, una pandemia o el apocalipsis zombie. Nosotros nos preparamos para algo más simple, como que pierdas el laburo o te enfermes y no puedas trabajar por meses. Entonces, ¿cómo subsistís todo ese tiempo?“, se preguntó.
“Esos elementos de preparación te van a dar tiempo para rehacer tu vida”, indicó.
Azzolin dijo que hay gente que hace búnkeres suntuosos, otros que utilizan el sótano de su casa y algunos que se compran un terreno en el medio de la nada para refugiarse en caso de emergencia. Pero la mayoría prioriza ir de un punto A al punto B para ponerse a salvo.
“No es una filosofía violenta. No es radical, al contrario. De hecho, todos nuestros abuelos que vinieron de Europa se atiborraron de comida en sus alacenas cuando llegaron a la Argentina”, concluyó.
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