A French politician has fired back at White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt's criticism of him after he called on the United States to return the Statue of Liberty.
Raphael Glucksmann, a member of France's Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, floated the idea of reclaiming Lady Liberty on Sunday at a convention of his center-left movement, according to a Fortune report.
"We're going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers demanding scientific freedom: 'Give us back the Statue of Liberty,'" Glucksmann said. "We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So, it will be just fine here at home."
The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the United States. It was unveiled on Oct. 28, 1886, in New York Harbor.
In Monday's press briefing at the White House, Leavitt was asked about Glucksmann's comments regarding the monument.
According to Mediaite, the press secretary said that the French should be "very grateful" that they're "not speaking German right now," alluding to the U.S. military's liberation of France during World War II.
Glucksmann took to the social platform X hours after Leavitt's response to post a lengthy thread doubling down on his criticism of the Trump administration.
"Dear Americans," he began. "Since the White House press secretary is attacking me today, I wanted to tell you this."
"Our two people are intimately linked by History, the blood we shed and the passion for freedom we share, a passion symbolized by this Statue that was offered to the United States by France to honor your glorious Revolution," Glucksmann said.
"As the press secretary for this shameful Administration said: without your nation, France would have 'spoken German,'" he continued. "In my case, it goes further: I would simply not be here if hundreds of thousands of young Americans had not landed on our beaches in Normandy. Our gratitude to these heroes and their sacrifices is therefore eternal."
"But the America of these heroes fought against tyrants, it did not flatter them," Glucksmann charged. "It was the enemy of fascism, not the friend of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. It helped the resistance and didn't attack [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy."
"It celebrated science and didn't fire researchers for using banned words," he said. "It welcomed the persecuted and didn't target them. It was far, so far from what your current President does, says, and embodies."
The French politician went on to say, "This America … is worth so much more than the betrayal of Ukraine and Europe, xenophobia, or obscurantism."
He concluded by saying that Europeans "love" the United States, "to which we know we owe so much," and added that Europe will "be the continuators of our shared history and the protectors … of the freedom" the Statue of Liberty "symbolizes."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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