Washington, DC -- Representatives Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and William R. Keating, Ranking Member of the Europe Subcommittee, today sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding answers about the administration's reckless actions on Greenland. The lawmakers warned that U.S. threats to seize Greenland, as well as Trump's appointment of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as a volunteer Special Envoy to Greenland for that purpose, undermine the U.S. relationship with Greenland, Denmark, and other European allies and distract from the real foreign and domestic policy challenges the president has repeatedly failed to address.
“We are writing to express our deep concern over the president’s repeated threats to take over Greenland, a largely autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a formal U.S. treaty ally and founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). With President Trump’s appointment of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as a 'volunteer' special envoy in charge of charting the U.S. takeover of Greenland, this administration is taking reckless policy actions that are causing potentially irreparable rifts in U.S.-Greenlandic, U.S.-Danish, and U.S.-European relations, and undermining U.S. national security interests...
“As Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, we find these actions deeply concerning and dangerous, as do many of our European allies. Danish, Greenlandic, and other European officials have strongly condemned these unnecessary provocative actions. It has also led to the Danish government to summon U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Ken Howery over the announcement. When Danish intelligence services earlier this month described the United States as a national security risk to Denmark and to Europe writ large, it is easy to see why.”
A PDF of the full letter can be found here.
“We are writing to express our deep concern over the president’s repeated threats to take over Greenland, a largely autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a formal U.S. treaty ally and founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). With President Trump’s appointment of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as a 'volunteer' special envoy in charge of charting the U.S. takeover of Greenland, this administration is taking reckless policy actions that are causing potentially irreparable rifts in U.S.-Greenlandic, U.S.-Danish, and U.S.-European relations, and undermining U.S. national security interests...
“As Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, we find these actions deeply concerning and dangerous, as do many of our European allies. Danish, Greenlandic, and other European officials have strongly condemned these unnecessary provocative actions. It has also led to the Danish government to summon U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Ken Howery over the announcement. When Danish intelligence services earlier this month described the United States as a national security risk to Denmark and to Europe writ large, it is easy to see why.”
A PDF of the full letter can be found here.