Story highlights Le Pen said France needed to better secure its borders

Party leader refuses to repay funds European Parliament says she misused

Watch the interview with Marine Le Pen on CNN International's Amanpour at 2pm ET.

(CNN) The leader of France's far-right Front National party, Marine Le Pen, has applauded US President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban and said a backlash to the measure was in "bad faith."

Trump signed an executive order Friday barring citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for the next 90 days and suspending the admission of all refugees for 120 days. The order also indefinitely suspends the Syrian refugee program.

Dubbed a "Muslim ban" by many, the order has been condemned by the countries affected and Western European leaders.

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"I think that most of the reactions are in bad faith," Le Pen, who is expected to be a frontrunner in France's presidential elections in April and May, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

"It is a temporary measure. It targets six or seven countries, countries that of course are responsible for terrorist threats.

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