PARIS — Pledging “to share a big hug with Paris” and show American solidarity with the French people after last week’s deadly terrorist attacks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has touched down in the French capital.
Kerry arrived in Paris on Thursday from Sofia, Bulgaria, where he said his trip to France is not an apology for the Obama administration’s failure to send a senior official to last weekend’s unity march. Rather, he said it is to express the “affection” Americans have for France, which has been on edge since the attacks.
Kerry will go to a town hall meeting with the mayor of Paris on Friday and express sympathy for the victims of the terror attacks last week. Singer-songwriter James Taylor, an old friend of Kerry’s, has joined him there and will perform one song.
He said he did not intend to explain the lack of a high-profile U.S. presence at Sunday’s march, which the White House has acknowledged was a mistake.