White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller insisted Monday evening that Greenland should be part of the US, predicting that “nobody’s going to fight the United States” about the future of the world’s largest island.
CNN host Jake Tapper had asked Miller about a Saturday X post by his wife, Katie, that depicted a map of Greenland with the Stars and Stripes overlaid and the caption “SOON.”
“The Lead” anchor pointed out that Katie Miller had made the post hours after US special forces arrested Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and brought him to New York to stand trial on drug and weapons charges.
“That’s why it’s newly relevant,” Tapper said.
“And I’ll talk with you about it for an hour,” Miller retorted. “I think it’s [a] really important conversation. I just want to — I just wanted to reset, Jake, by making clear that has been the formal position of the US government since the beginning of this administration, frankly, going back into the previous Trump administration, that Greenland should be part of the United States.The president has been very clear about that. That is the formal position of the U.S. government.”
Trump’s designs on Greenland have caused an uproar in Denmark, which currently controls the island.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told public broadcaster DR Monday: “I have made it very clear where the Kingdom of Denmark stands, and Greenland has repeatedly said that it does not want to be part of the United States. Unfortunately, I think the American president should be taken seriously when he says he wants Greenland.”
Frederiksen also warned that if the US were to use military force to annex Greenland, “everything stops.”
“It wouldn’t be military action against Greenland,” Miller told Tapper Monday evening. “Greenland has a population of 30,000 people, Jake. The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? What is their basis of having Greenland as a colony of Denmark? The United States is the power of NATO, for the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests. Obviously, Greenland should be part of the United States.
“And so that’s a conversation that we’re going to have as a country. That’s a process we’re going to have as a community of nations.”
On Tuesday, Frederiksen was joined by the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom in a joint statement insisting: “Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
The statement referred to the US as “an essential partner” in efforts to secure the Arctic from domination by Russia and China — but emphasized that security must “be achieved collectively … by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the inviolability of borders. These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them.”
“So you can’t take it off the table that the US would use military force to seize Greenland,” Tapper said, drawing a rebuke from Miller.
“I understand you’re trying very hard to, which again, is your job, I respect it, it’s great to get exactly the headline, right, that catchy headline that says Miller refuses to rule out.
“The United States should have Greenland as part of the United States,” the Trump adviser insisted.
“There’s no need to even think or talk about this in the context that you’re asking of a military operation.
“Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
