White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday rejected a French politicianâs request to return the Statue of Liberty, prompting that European Parliament member to call out the âshamefulâ administration.
âAbsolutely not. My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that itâs only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now,â Leavitt said at a press briefing, alluding to the United States helping defeat Nazi Germany in occupied France during World War II. âThey should be grateful to our great country.â
The day prior, Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament, said the U.S. no longer stood for what the statue represents.
âWeâre going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: âGive us back the Statue of Liberty,ââ Glucksmann said at a rally.
The statue, gifted by the French in the 1880s, was conceived some twenty years earlier to mark the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the abolition of slavery. It has also long been symbolic of America as a refuge for the worldâs âhuddled masses yearning to breathe free,â as the inscription on its pedestal reads.
Glucksmann added that France would eagerly take in scientists whose work has been hampered by the Trump administrationâs sweeping cuts to the government workforce and to research grants.
In response to Leavittâs comments Monday, Glucksmann addressed Americans in a series of posts on X.
After expressing âeternalâ gratitude for the role the U.S. played in WWII, Glucksmann noted:
âBut the America of these heroes fought against tyrants, it did not flatter them. It was the enemy of fascism, not the friend of Putin. It helped the resistance and didnât attack Zelensky.â
âIt celebrated science and didnât fire researchers for using banned words,â he went on. âIt welcomed the persecuted and didnât target them. It was far, so far from what your current President does, says, and embodies.â
Glucksmann added that his comments should be considered a âwake up call.â
âAnd it is precisely because I am petrified by Trumpâs betrayal that I said yesterday in a rally that we could symbolically take back the Statue of Liberty if your government despised everything it symbolizes in your eyes, ours, and those of the world. It was a wake up call,â he wrote.
âNo one, of course, will come and steal the Statue of Liberty. The statue is yours. But what it embodies belongs to everyone. And if the free world no longer interests your government, then we will take up the torch, here in Europe.â