The U.S. is not interfering in European politics, a senior U.S. State Department official told POLITICO on Saturday, despite reported efforts by the Trump administration to fund MAGA-aligned organizations on the continent. 

Speaking at the POLITICO Pub on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Under Secretary of State Sarah Rogers pushed back on a POLITICO report that Rogers and other Trump officials had held talks with groups in France and Britain and asked the Washington-based Heritage Foundation to provide a list of potential organizations to fund.

“The idea that we have a slush fund for the far right is a lie,” Rogers said. “It's not America's decision to govern who's elected in Europe.”

The message from Rogers appeared to be another sign of the Trump administration trying to send conciliatory signals to Europe, despite the recently published National Security Strategy calling on the U.S. to “cultivate resistance” to the political status quo on the continent. And it came just hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for a “strong and revitalized Europe” on the Munich stage. 

Rogers has courted controversy by taking to her official social media accounts to launch public attacks, from characterizing immigrants to Germany as “imported barbarian rapist hordes” to connecting Sweden’s migration policy to instances of sexual violence, and for her sharp rebukes of social media regulations in the EU and the United Kingdom.

After U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s searing Munich speech last year criticizing European democracies for ostensibly pushing back on free speech rights in efforts to crack down on election interference, Rogers indicated that the U.S. is still making a list of which allies have been naughty and nice, but used a gentler tone. 

“In terms of who’s a good ally, we certainly have views on that, but whoever’s elected, we will work with them,” she said.

At Munich, she has faced questions over whether rising far-right European parties, such as Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) and France’s National Rally, might share U.S. priorities when it comes to beefing up defense. 

Many right-wing parties have qualms over higher military spending and many also have warm relations with the Kremlin.

Rogers said that despite holding meetings with an AfD spokesperson last year, she has also talked with the British and French governments. 

“I’m a diplomat,” Rogers said. “It’s my job to meet with people that disagree with us on at least some things.” 

The White House also has disagreements with would-be European allies on the right, she said, and there is some common ground on efforts to crack down on AI deepfakes and sexual exploitation on social media.

“We certainly don't disagree that defamatory sexualized deepfakes are a serious issue, possibly addressable by law,” she added.

Top Trump official says no US ‘slush fund’ for far right in Europe