French politician hits back at Karoline Leavitt after Statue of Liberty threat
French politician Raphael Glucksmann fired back at White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt over the ‘shameful’ administration after she slammed him for calling for the Statue of Liberty to be returned.
Leavitt blasted the far-left Frenchman from the podium on Monday for his comments made over the weekend.
In return, far-left French Socialist MEP took to X to post a cutting thread in response while praising the long ties between the U.S. and France.
‘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,’ he wrote.
‘As the press secretary for this shameful Administration said: without your nation, France would have “spoken German,”‘ he noted with a video of Leavitt Monday.
‘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,’ he continued.
‘Our gratitude to these heroes and their sacrifices is therefore eternal,’ he wrote.
‘But 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 didn’t attack Zelensky,’ the pro-Ukrainian French politician continued.
Glucksmann wrote that ‘of course, will come and steal the Statue of Liberty.’
But he added ‘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.’
French politician Raphael Glucksmann fired back at White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a thread on X after she called him a ‘low-level French politician’ in response to him suggesting France take back the Statue of Liberty
The tit for tat began on Sunday when Glucksmann first made his comments at a party convention.
He told the French crowd: ‘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, but apparently you despise it, so it will be just fine here at home,’ he added.
Leavitt was asked about his remarks during Monday’s White House press briefing.
She said President Donald Trump would ‘absolutely not’ give back the iconic statue that sits in the New York Harbor and was gifted from France roughly 140 years ago.
‘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,’ Leavitt said.
‘So they should be very grateful to our great country,’ she added.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted a ‘low-level French politician’ when asked about Glucksmann suggesting France take take back the Statue of Liberty and that Americans ‘have chosen to switch to the side of the tyrants’
The left-wing lawmaker was seemingly referring to Trump’s position on the Ukraine-Russia conflict as well as the DOGE cuts that are tearing through the U.S. government with his original remarks.
It was the latest in a series of transatlantic spats at the start of Trump’s second term.
As well as suggesting the Statue of Liberty be returned, Glucksmann also said France would welcome any exiled U.S. scientists.
The government of France famously gifted the statue as a sign of friendship between the two nations.
Leavitt’s line was a reference to U.S. heroism liberating France from Nazi occupation during World War II.
In his thread, Glucksmann wrote that the America the heroes fought for also ‘celebrated science and didn’t fire researchers for using banned words. It welcomed the persecuted and didn’t target them. It was far, so far from what your current President does, says, and embodies.’
‘This America, faithful to the wonderful words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, your America, is worth so much more than the betrayal of Ukraine and Europe, xenophobia, or obscurantism,’ he continued.
He also posted that he was ‘petrified by Trumps betrayal.’
In his ten-post thread in response, Gluckmann concluded: ‘Until we meet again in the fight for freedom and dignity, we will be the continuators of our shared history and the protectors of our treasure: more than a statue of copper and steel, the freedom it symbolizes.’
Speaking at a party convention, Glucksmann told the crowd he believes some Americans have chosen to side with the tyrants
Leavitt’s remarks on Monday came at a time of severe tensions, with the European Commission imposing tariffs on U.S. products in response to Trump’s tariff on steel and aluminum.
Trump has hit France and EU countries by putting a 200 percent tariff on ‘wines, champagne and alcoholic products.’
The French gifted the Statue of Liberty to the United States in 1884, and it was unveiled in New York two years later.
Since then, it has become synonymous with the city and is a major tourist attraction.
European nations have responded with horror to Trump’s decision to suspend military funding for Ukraine amid tense peace negotiations with Russia, facilitated by the United States.
The situation exploded during a meeting at the White House between Trump and Ukrainian leader Voloymyr Zelensky.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance hosted Zelensky with the intention of signing a minerals deal which would grant the United States access to key Ukrainian resources in exchange for the past and ongoing military aid to help fight the Russian invasion.
However, the meeting imploded and was abruptly ended, with the US leader and his VP criticizing Zelensky for failing to show enough gratitutude for the tens of billions of dollars America has already funneled into the war.
After the meeting, Trump introduced a freeze on all funding and some intelligence sharing.
Glucksmann is a staunch defender of Ukraine, making the issue the number one priority of his 2024 campaign.
He is the son of a French philosopher and was raised among a privileged cosmopolitan community near Paris.
In 2014, he described himself as a ‘revolution consultant’, writing and crafting speeches for boxer turned mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko.
At the time, Glucksmann was living in Ukraine.
The left-wing politician was seemingly referring to Trump’s position on the Ukraine-Russia conflict
Before the statue was shipped across the Atlantic, it was fully assembled in a public park in Paris, to test how the structure would hold up. During those years, Parisians affectionately referred to the sculpture as the ‘Lady of the Park’. Pictured, the Statue of Liberty towering over rooftops in Paris after it was first completed in 1884.
‘We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home,’ said Glucksmann
During the same controversial speech as the Statue of Liberty remark, Glucksmann issued a second message directly to Americans.
‘If you want to fire your best researchers, if you want to fire all the people who, through their freedom and their sense of innovation, their taste for doubt and research, have made your country the world’s leading power, then we’re going to welcome them,’ he said.
There have long been quips about whether France would ever formally request the Statue of Liberty be returned, or if the Trump administration admires what she stands for.
One Reddit user recently said: ‘There’s maybe $230,000 worth of scrap copper in there. I’m surprised DOGE hasn’t had it melted down yet.’
Billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been tasked with rooting out wasteful spending.
Another said: ‘In that scenario I think Trump would say ”Sure. It’s yours. Come pick it up. We are going to start charging you a $1 billion/day warehouse fee staring tomorrow”.’
Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron enjoyed a widely-reported bromance during Trump’s first term.
Photographs of them holding hands and grinning in the White House Rose Garden accompanied every story about U.S.-French relations.
Le bromance! Behind-the-scenes during Macron and Trump’s showdown
‘He is perfect,’ Trump said in 2018.
And after winning the 2024 race to return to the White House, Trump doubled down on his admiration of France, describing the nation as ‘our oldest ally, and one of our greatest.’
Even when tensions were high, as they were then over keeping the U.S. in the Iran nuclear deal, their personal chemistry kept the diplomacy ticking over.
Macron had impressed Trump with the full military pomp of the Bastille Day parade, which encouraged the American president to think about having his own display of armed might.
So Macron was considered the perfect messenger from Europe to travel to the White House in an effort last month to gently remind Trump that Russian aggression threatened much more than just Ukraine.
‘I think a lot of progress has been made. We’ve had some very good talks,’ Trump said after the meeting. ‘We’re trying to get the war ended.’
The friendship between the United States and France dates back to 1778. France was the first nation to develop diplomatic ties with America.
But, more recently, the U.S. and France clashed over the handling of the Iraq war.
