French police raid far-right National Rally’s headquarters

PARIS — French authorities raided the headquarters of the National Rally Wednesday morning after launching a major investigation into allegations of wrongdoing during several recent elections.

Prosecutors said that the raids stem from a probe opened last year and concern allegations of illegal campaign financing, money laundering and the use of forged documents during the 2022 French presidential campaign, the French legislative elections that same year and the European elections in 2024.

The purported crimes occurred between Jan. 1, 2020, and July 12, 2024.

Party President Jordan Bardella confirmed on X that the National Rally’s headquarters, “including the offices of its leaders — has been the subject of a search conducted by some 20 armed police officers from the Financial Brigade, wearing bulletproof vests, accompanied by two investigating judges.”

However, Bardella said he did “not know precisely what the grounds for this action are” and claimed that all “emails, documents and accounting records belonging to the [National Rally] have been seized.”

This story will be updated.