French police raid far-right National Rally party HQ

The headquarters of France's far-right National Rally party were raided by police Wednesday, its president Jordan Bardella said.

Police raided the headquarters of France's far-right National Rally party Wednesday, in what officials said was an investigation into alleged fraud, illegal loans and forged documents relating to the party's successful elections of recent years.

It is the latest probe into whether the party has broken campaign financing laws, with its founder and de-facto leader Marine Le Pen being convicted of embezzlement in April and banned from office for five years.

On Wednesday, National Rally President Jordan Bardella wrote on X that 20 armed officers wearing bulletproof vests, accompanied by two judges, entered the party's Paris offices and seized emails, documents and accounting records.

He called it a "spectacular and unprecedented operation" that was "clearly part of a new harassment campaign." he added, "It is a serious attack on pluralism and democratic change."

Paris Deputy Prosecutor Charline Le Peutrec said the the raid was carried out to investigate whether the party financed elections in 2022 and 2024 using "illegal loans," "overcharging for services," or "fictitious invoices for services" that were subsequently claimed on official expenses.