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Karoline Leavitt issued a fiery rebuke to a French politician calling for the Statue of Liberty to be returned, with the White House press secretary stating his country should be very grateful to the U.S. that its “not speaking German right now.”
Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament and France’s center-left Place Publique party, called for the New York Harbor-based landmark to be brought “home” claiming that the U.S. no longer represents the values embodied by Lady Liberty after siding with “tyrants.”
Leavitt said that President Donald Trump would “absolutely not” return the statue – a gift from France some 140 years ago – and clarified the U.S.’s role in helping liberate France from Nazi occupation during World War II.
“My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now,” she said in a briefing Monday. “So they should be very grateful to our great country.”
Karoline Leavitt issued a scathing rebuke to the French politician calling for the Statue of Liberty to be returned
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Karoline Leavitt issued a scathing rebuke to the French politician calling for the Statue of Liberty to be returned (EPA)
Glucksmann made the remarks during a convention during a Place Publique movement Sunday.
“Give us back the Statue of Liberty,” he Glucksmann, according to Agence France-Presse.
“We're going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: 'Give us back the Statue of Liberty.’”
France gifted the statue, which stands 305 feet tall and weighs 450,000 lbs, to the U.S. on July 4, 1884, to commemorate the 108th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The Statue of Liberty was gifted to the U.S. on July 4, 1884
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The Statue of Liberty was gifted to the U.S. on July 4, 1884 (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
The iconic copper-clad sculpture was created by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and currently sits on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. There is a replica of the statue in the Seine River in Paris.
The U.S. likely would not have won the Revolutionary War had it not been for financial backing from the European nation. The U.S. did not return the favor when the French Revolution began in 1789.
“We gave it to you as a gift,” Glucksmann continued, citing the United States’ founding values of freedom and liberty. “But apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home.”
He concluded his remarks by stating France would welcome top researchers who had been fired in the cuts to the National Institutes of Health and similar organizations.
Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament and France’s center-left Place Publique party, called for the Statue of Liberty’s return to France on Sunday
open image in gallery
Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament and France’s center-left Place Publique party, called for the Statue of Liberty’s return to France on Sunday (AP)
Glucksmann, a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, is a staunch supporter of Ukraine.
Last month, Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of “gambling with World War III” during a contentious Oval Office meeting. The Ukrainian president left the White House without signing a minerals deal to secure U.S. help in ending the war with Russia.
Earlier this month, Zelensky softened his stance and said he was ready to work under Trump's “strong leadership” and that it was “time to make things right” between the two nations.
Trump is expected to hold a call with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in an attempt to convince the Russian President to accept a ceasefire and end the conflict with Ukraine.