By White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed a claim by French politician Raphaël Glucksmann that the United States no longer deserves the Statue of Liberty, emphasizing that France owes its freedom to American intervention in World War II.
During a press briefing on Monday, Leavitt responded to remarks made by Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament’s Socialists and Democrats group. At a political convention in France, Glucksmann argued that the U.S. had forfeited its moral claim to the statue due to former President Donald Trump’s alleged alignment with authoritarian leaders, explained The Daily Caller.
Glucksmann made the remarks at a recent convention of his political party, Place Publique, where he alleged that Americans appear to “despise” the Statue of Liberty. The 305 foot tall statue, which stands off the coast of Ellis Island in New York, was gifted to the U.S. by France on July 4, 1884, to honor American independence and the U.S.’s alliance with their nation.
“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,’” 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 left-wing French politician criticized Trump for suspending military aid to Ukraine and berated Elon Musk, who is overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), for conducting mass layoffs of the federal government with the intent of eliminating wasteful and fraudulent spending, according to The Guardian.
Trump has asked that Europe actually pay for part of its own defense and stop buying natural gas from Russia. Foreign Policy recently noted that “A December report from the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) concluded, ‘Although Russian fossil fuel exports to the West have decreased, glaring loopholes in the sanctions’ regime persist.’ Nowhere are the failings more prominent than with liquified natural gas (LNG). In 2024, the EU imported a record 16.5 million metric tons of LNG from Russia, surpassing the 15.2 million in 2023.
EU countries, led by Germany, have done much to truncate their Russian energy dependencies. Between early 2022 and the end of 2023, the EU slashed its imports of Russian fossil fuels by 94 percent, from $16 billion per month to around $1 billion per month, according to Belgian think tank Bruegel. Coal imports are nil. But countries across the bloc are still buying energy supplies from Russia and thus paying straight into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war chest.
When it comes to Russian LNG, which is not sanctioned and remains a bargain compared to imported U.S. super-chilled gas, Europe has even regressed. According to the Financial Times, EU countries’ imports from Russia—led by France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium—reached an all-time high in 2024.
Russian gas imports are Europe’s most glaring failure, with Russia still making up 18 percent of all EU natural gas imports as of late 2024. In 2022, it was Russia—not the Europeans—that scaled back gas imports. It was, namely, to penalize Europe for its refusal to pay in rubles, which caused exports to the EU to fall by over half over the course of that year.”
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy raised the issue during the briefing, prompting a firm response from Leavitt. “Absolutely not,” she stated. “My advice to that unnamed, low-level French politician is to remember that without the United States of America, the French would be speaking German right now. They should be very grateful to our great country.”
NEW: Karoline Leavitt reminds France that they'd be speaking German if it weren't for the United States, reporters heard groaning.
Peter Doocy: A member of the European Parliament is calling for the US to send back the Statue of Liberty…
Leavitt: "My advice to that unnamed… pic.twitter.com/ffUsYtXPmA
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 17, 2025
The Statue of Liberty, standing 305 feet tall, was a gift from France to the United States in 1884, symbolizing the two nations’ shared values of liberty and democracy. However, Glucksmann framed his remarks as a critique of U.S. foreign policy, specifically criticizing Trump for suspending military aid to Ukraine and accusing billionaire Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, of implementing widespread federal layoffs.
American forces, in collaboration with the French Resistance, played a crucial role in liberating France from Nazi occupation during World War II. Following the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, Allied troops advanced through France, ultimately freeing Paris on August 25.
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