The Statue of Liberty in New York City on March 13. Photo: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
The White House on Monday sharply rejected a tongue-in-cheek call from a French politician to return the Statue of Liberty to France.
Why it matters: Raphaël Glucksmann, a French European Parliament member, quipped this weekend that the Trump administration’s values didn’t align with those represented by the statue.
The latest: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing Monday that the U.S. would “absolutely not” return the iconic statue.
- “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 added, referring to the German occupation of France during World War II.
- “So they should be very grateful to our great country.”
State of play: The rhetorical furor kicked off when Glucksmann called for the statue’s return at a party convention Sunday.
- “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,” Glucksmann said. “‘Give us back the Statue of Liberty.'”
- “We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home,” he added.
Flashback: Lady Liberty was gifted by the French government to the U.S. roughly 140 years ago.
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