White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has fired back after a French lawmaker demanded that America return the Statue of Liberty to France.
During a Monday press briefing, Leavitt slammed the “low-level French politician” who made the demand.
Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the globalist European Parliament, demanded that the United States “Give us back the Statue of Liberty.”
Leavitt reminded Glucksmann, the co-president of a small left-wing party in France, that he would be speaking German if it weren’t for American troops.
Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked Leavitt if President Donald Trump would give the Statue of Liberty back.
The world-famous monument has graced New York City’s harbor since the 1800s and has become a global symbol of freedom.
“Absolutely not!” Leavitt said in response to Doocy’s question.
“And, 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.”
“So they should be very grateful to our great country,” she added.
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Leavitt was referencing how American troops liberated France from Nazi Germany’s occupation in World War II.
In an address to supporters of his Public Place party on Sunday, Glucksmann delivered a message to Americans:
“Give us back the Statue of Liberty.”
“It was our gift to you,” Glucksmann said.
“But apparently you despise her.
“So she will be happy here with us,” Glucksmann added.
Glucksmann’s comments garnered applause and whistles from his left-wing audience.
His party also posted false accusations on its website that Trump is wielding power in an “authoritarian” manner.
The part is also claiming that Trump is “preparing to deliver Ukraine on a silver platter” to Russia.
In his speech, Glucksmann referenced New York poet Emma Lazarus’ words about the statue.
Lazarus wrote about the “mighty woman with a torch” who promised a home for the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
“Today, this land is ceasing to be what it was,” Glucksmann said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has let his prime minister, François Bayrou, play the role of being a more critical voice of the Trump administration.
Bayrou condemned what he called the “brutality” that was shown to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his White House visit.
He also suggested that Trump’s administration risked handing victory to Russia when it paused military aid to Ukraine.
UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural arm, has the Statue of Liberty on its list of World Heritage treasures.
The organization notes that the iconic monument is U.S. government property.
It was initially envisaged as a monumental gesture of French-American friendship to mark the 100th anniversary of the July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence.
A war that erupted in 1870 between France and German states, led by Prussia, diverted the energies of the monument’s designer, French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi.
The gift also took time to be funded.
A decision was taken that the French would pay for the statue and Americans would cover the costs of its pedestal.
The statue was officially unveiled on October 28, 1886, after it was transported to New York in 350 pieces from France.
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