PARIS (Reuters) – French far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour had a phone call with former U.S. President Donald Trump who told him not to give in to pressure from the media, news channel BFM TV reported on Tuesday, citing sources in Zemmour’s campaign team.
Trump’s 2016 presidential run is often cited as a blueprint for the current campaign of former French talk show commentator Zemmour, who has been convicted several times for inciting racial hatred. Zemmour denies he is racist.
“Eric Zemmour and the former American president spoke on the phone for about 40 minutes on Monday,” said BFM TV, citing a source close to the French candidate.
A representative of Eric Zemmour’s campaign team in a tweet confirmed the phone call, saying the conversation took place on Monday evening.
Trump’s representatives were not immediately available for comment.
Similar to Trump, Zemmour is looking to position himself as an outsider to traditional parties and the French political establishment, banking instead on his celebrity status and large following on social media.
BFM TV said Trump told Zemmour that in order to win, one must never change one’s political line.
According to BFM TV’s account of the conversation from sources inside Zemmour’s camp, the former U.S. president told him never to change if he wanted to win and keep his authenticity and “courage.”
Zemmour is fourth in opinion polls and is vying with Marine Le Pen, from the Rassemblement National party who is polling second, for the far-right electorate, with both hoping to beat President Emmanuel Macron in the April election.
In her 2017 presidential campaign, Le Pen sought to display her proximity to Trump when she travelled to the Manhattan business headquarters of the former U.S. president, but left the place discretely when nobody received her.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
