WASHINGTON _ Commenting again on a Paris shooting that he had been quick to label a terrorist attack, President Donald Trump said Friday that the latest scare in the French capital would "have a big effect" on presidential elections set for this weekend.
"The people of France will not take much more of this," the president tweeted.
The statement, like many of the president's social media postings, is open to interpretation: Was it just conjecture, political punditry or an implicit endorsement of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who has called for a crackdown at France's borders as part of an anti-terror policy?
Trump has not endorsed a candidate in the race _ presidents seldom do that in foreign elections _ and White House officials have been reluctant to weigh in on the race, even as Le Pen and Trump have often been compared to one another.
Whether Trump's backing would help Le Pen is also unclear.
The comment comes one day after former President Barack Obama placed a call to the leading centrist candidate, Emmanuel Macron. A spokesman for Obama said the call was not an endorsement, but simply an opportunity to discuss the campaign.
Macron's campaign posted an edited video of the call on Twitter.
