00:00I'm here in Paris outside the National Rally Party headquarters in the French capital where
00:08Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella are holding a crisis meeting on Monday after that historic
00:15verdict and sentencing earlier on the 31st of March at the Paris High Court.
00:21Marine Le Pen, the French far-right figurehead and likely candidate in the 2027 presidential
00:28election, being found guilty of the embezzlement of European Union funds and being sentenced
00:34to four years in jail, two years suspended, two years with an electronic tag, a fine of
00:39$108,000, but also most significantly, most importantly, being barred from running for
00:46public office for five years, which would impede her chances of standing as a candidate
00:53in the 2027 presidential election.
00:56She has stood three times before, all unsuccessfully. She said 2027 would be her fourth and final
01:03tilt at trying to land the Elysee Palace for the National Rally hard-right party. But if
01:09she cannot stand in 2027, she may have to hand over the baton to her party president,
01:1529-year-old Jordan Bardella. He's been reacting on Monday, saying that what has happened has
01:20been an execution of democracy. A party spokesman also was here at the party headquarters a
01:26little earlier, saying that what happened was sleazy and disgusting. There's also been
01:31reaction from across the European Union, leaders like Viktor Orban and Matteo Salvini in support
01:36of Ms Le Pen. But she was on trial last year. She was found guilty. And so a sentence has
01:43been applied. Her legal team, though, say that she will be appealing against that.
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