(A7) White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to the call of a French politician that America return the Statue of Liberty to France, nearly 140 years after the skyscraper-sized figure was given to the US as a gift from France.

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats MP Raphaël Glucksmann had stated in response to the recent US policy on the Ukraine war, “Give us back the Statue of Liberty. 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.’ We gave it to you as a gift.”

When asked about Glucksmann’s statement, Leavitt stated, “It’s only because of America that the French are not speaking German right now,” and that France “should be very grateful to our great country.”