White House says US will not return the Statue of Liberty to France
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French member of the European Parliament Raphael Glucksmann said the United States under the Trump administration no longer embodied the spirit of the monument.
PHOTO: FACEBOOK/STATUE OF LIBERTY NATIONAL MONUMENT
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WASHINGTON - The White House on March 18 rejected a call by a French member of the European Parliament for the return of the Statue of Liberty,
“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, so they should be very grateful to our great country,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
American news outlet Politico reported that French member of the European Parliament Raphael Glucksmann had said at a party convention on March 17 that America under the Trump administration no longer embodied the spirit of the monument.
France gifted the US the Statue of Liberty in the 1880s to formalise diplomatic ties and enshrine the concept of American independence from Great Britain and the end of slavery.
“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,’” Mr Glucksmann said. AFP
