Trump: Attack will have ‘big effect’ on vote
French won’t ‘take much more of this,’ president tweets.
President Donald Trump inserted himself into the tumult of French politics Friday, declaring that the fatal shooting of a police officer in central Paris would have “a big effect” when voters go to the polls Sunday to choose among 11 presidential candidates.
Trump did not mention any candidates by name. But his statement on Twitter — “The people of France will not take much more of this. Will have a big effect on presidential election!” — came at the tail end of a tight, fragmented race, with at least four contenders running neck and neck.
One of them, Marine Le Pen, the far-right candidate, has issued grim warnings that a declining France is losing its identity, echoing Trump’s themes during the presidential race last year. It was not clear, however, that Trump’s statement would help her.
In a statement Friday, Le Pen blamed “radical Islam” — “a monstrous, totalitarian ideology that has declared war on our nation, on reason, on civilization” — for the attack Thursday night.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility within hours of the attack, which also wounded two police officers and a bystander and briefly shut down the city’s most famous boulevard.
On Friday, the Paris prosecutor, Francois Molins, identified the gunman as Karim Cheurfi, 39, a French citizen with a long record of violent crime, and provided an account of the attack.
At 8:47 p.m. Thursday, Cheurfi arrived in an Audi off the Champs-Élysées, exited the car and opened fire with a Kalashnikov assault rifle on a police vehicle, mortally wounding the officer who was in the driver’s seat. He then fired at police officers who were on duty outside a Turkish tourism office, injuring two, ages 34 and 31, and a bystander. He was shot dead as he tried to flee.
A piece of paper found near Cheurfi’s body contained a handwritten message expressing support for the Islamic State; other papers, in his car, had addresses for the French domestic intelligence agency and for a police station in Lagny-sur-Marne.
Cheurfi had spent more than a decade in prison. In 2001, he was charged with attempted murder after attacking three police officers, one of them while he was in custody. He was given a 15-year sentence. Three other convictions followed: in 2007, he attacked a prison employee; in 2008, he assaulted a fellow inmate; and in 2013, he committed theft.
Last released from prison in October 2015, Cheurfi was placed under monitoring.
Cheurfi was not flagged in the so-called S-files of the intelligence agencies, Molins said, because he had not shown any signs of radicalization during his time in prison. Nonetheless, in March, authorities opened a preliminary terrorism investigation as a precaution.
Le Pen said foreigners in the files should be deported; that those who are dual citizens should be stripped of their French nationality; and that those who are French should be prosecuted.