US excludes French groups from MAGA-aligned grant program – POLITICO

PARIS — The U.S. State Department will exclude French applicants from a grant program meant to support MAGA-aligned groups after Paris warned against potential interference in next year’s French presidential election.

The program aims to advance the U.S. administration’s political agenda in Europe and fight what it describes as democratic backsliding, including “overbroad and vague hate-speech laws.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Paris confirmed French groups wouldn’t receive funding, as first reported by Reuters.