Agencies WASHINGTON

The White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt,   dismissed French politician Raphael Glucksmann's call to return the Statue of Liberty as politically driven and said  France should be grateful to the US for not speaking German today.

Glucksmann, a centre-left member of the European Parliament, made the remark at a political convention of his Place Publique movement. He argued that the US had abandoned the values that inspired France to gift the statue, specifically criticising President Donald Trump's leadership and his administration's approach to scientific freedom.

"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,'" Glucksmann said.