White House won't return Statue of Liberty to France

THE White House has dismissed a French politician’s symbolic call for the return of the Statue of Liberty -a gift from France some 140 years ago - on the grounds that the US no longer represents the values embodied by the monument.

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United States President Donald Trump would “absolutely not” return the statue, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said this week when asked about the comments from Raphaél Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament.

“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, referring to the US's role in helping France during World War II. “So they should be very grateful to our great country.”

The US played a major role in freeing France from four years of occupation by Nazi Germany, but it did not act alone. On June 6, 1944, Allied forces — primarily American, British, and Canadian troops - launched the pivotal D-Day invasion, which marked the beginning of France's liberation.

Glucksmann, from France’s center-left Place Publique party, made the quip about the Statue of Liberty during a party convention Sunday.