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Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by <a href="https://lipperalpha.refinitiv.com/" data-omtr-intcmp="topnav_more_refinitive_info">Refinitiv Lipper</a>. <br>White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claps back at a French politician claiming the United States should send back the Statue of Liberty.<br>White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt chastised a low-ranking <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/world/world-regions/france" target="_blank" rel="noopener">French politician</a> who made headlines for demanding that the United States return the Statue of Liberty. <br>During a Monday press briefing, Leavitt reminded Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament and co-president of a small left-wing party in France, that he would be speaking German if it weren't for American troops. <br>Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked Leavitt on Monday if President <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/person/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> would give the Statue of Liberty, which has graced New York City's harbor since the 1800s, back to France. <br><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/french-parliament-member-wants-us-return-statue-liberty-apparently-you-despise-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>FRENCH PARLIAMENT MEMBER WANTS US TO RETURN STATUE OF LIBERTY: 'APPARENTLY YOU DESPISE IT'</strong></a><br><span>Press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing at the White House on March 17, 2025.</span> <span>(Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)</span><br>"Absolutely not," Leavitt said with a smile. "And, 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." <br>"So they should be very grateful to our great country," she added, nodding to how American troops liberated France from Nazi Germany's occupation <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/topic/world-war-two" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in World War II. </a><br>In an address to supporters of his Public Place party on Sunday, Glucksmann told the United States, "Give us back the Statue of Liberty."<br>"It was our gift to you. But apparently you despise her. So she will be happy here with us," Glucksmann said, garnering applause and whistles from his audience. <br>Glucksmann's party has posted accusations on its website that Trump is wielding power in an "authoritarian" manner and is "preparing to deliver Ukraine on a silver platter" to Russia.<br>In his speech, Glucksmann referenced New York poet Emma Lazarus' words about the statue, the "mighty woman with a torch" who promised a home for the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free."<br><span>Raphael Glucksmann at the European Parliament on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Strasbourg, eastern France.</span> <span>(AP Photo/Pascal Bastien, file)</span><br>"Today, this land is ceasing to be what it was," Glucksmann said.<br><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/russia-wants-ironclad-guarantee-ukraine-barred-from-nato-official" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>RUSSIA WANTS 'IRONCLAD' GUARANTEE THAT UKRAINE WILL BE BARRED FROM NATO: OFFICIAL</strong></a><br>French President Emmanuel Macron has let his prime minister, François Bayrou, play the role of being a more critical voice of the Trump administration. Bayrou condemned what he called the "brutality" that was shown to Ukrainian <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/world/volodymyr-zelenskyy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Volodymyr Zelenskyy</a> during his White House visit, and suggested that Trump's administration risked handing victory to Russia when it paused military aid to Ukraine.<br>UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural arm that has the Statue of Liberty on its list of World Heritage treasures, notes that the iconic monument is U.S. government property.<br>It was initially envisaged as a monumental gesture of French-American friendship to mark the 100th anniversary of the July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence. <br><span>The Statue of Liberty in New York harbor.</span> <span>(Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)</span><br>A war that erupted in 1870 between France and German states led by Prussia diverted the energies of the monument's designer, French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi.<br>The gift also took time to be funded, with a decision taken that the French would pay for the statue and Americans would cover the costs of its pedestal.<br><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/download"><strong><u>CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP</u></strong></a><br>Transported in 350 pieces from France, the statue was officially <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/this-day-history-oct-28-1886-statue-liberty-unveiled-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unveiled Oct. 28, 1886.</a><br><i>The Associated Press contributed to this report.</i><br>Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. 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