Rubio says Trump wants to buy Greenland while White House dangles military option
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers during a classified briefing on Capitol Hill earlier this week that the U.S. is seeking to purchase Greenland, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.
Rubio told reporters after a briefing Wednesday that buying the territory has always been President Donald Trump's intent all along.
"Well, that's always been the president's intent from the very beginning. He said it very early on. I mean, this is not new. He talked about it in his first term, and he's not the first U.S. president that has examined or looked at how could we acquire Greenland? There's an interest there," Rubio told reporters.
The secretary of state did not answer questions about the use of military force to acquire the territory, which has been floated as an option by the White House.
"If the president identifies a threat to the national security of the United States, every president retains the option to address it through military means," Rubio said. "As a diplomat, which is what I am now and what we work on, we always prefer to settle it in different ways."
Greenland is a self-sovereign territory of Denmark with its own elected government, with Denmark's parliament handling international matters.
Trump and his advisors have been discussing "a range of options" to acquire Greenland, including use of the military.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down Wednesday during a press briefing at the White House that the Trump administration will not rule out using military force, acknowledging that while diplomacy is always the first option, “the president keeps his options open.”
“All options are always on the table for President Trump as he examines what's in the best interests of the United States,” explained Leavitt when asked why the White House wouldn’t rule out the use of force. “But I will just say that the President's first option always has been diplomacy.”
She then rejected the notion that the president wasn’t willing to collaborate with the Danes.
“Well, who said diplomacy isn't taking place behind the scenes? I mean, the president is interested in diplomacy. His national security team is as well. And of course, he's always willing to pick up the phone for everybody and hear out their concerns,” Leavitt said. “But the president is the president of United States of America, and he's always going to be very clear about what he views as being in our nation's best interest,” she said.
Greenland's position above the Arctic Circle makes it an alluring hub for international trade with coveted access to mineral resources -- with China and Russia competitively seeking to assert their influence over wide areas of the region.
Pressed on what the U.S. would gain by taking control of Greenland, Leavitt said it was about “More control over the Arctic region and ensuring that China and Russia, and our adversaries cannot continue their aggression in this very important and strategic region. And there would be many other benefits as well, that, again, the president and his national security team are currently talking about.”
The notion of acquiring the country, especially through the use of the military, drew major pushback from key Republicans on Capitol Hill as foreign leaders decry the president's rhetoric.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans pushed back on any assertion that the U.S. would use military action to acquire the country, with Johnson saying the U.S. is "not at war with Greenland."
"So, all this stuff about military action and all that, I don't think it's, I don't even think that's a possibility. I don't think anybody's seriously considering that. And in the Congress, we're certainly not," he said at a news conference.
Johnson said the U.S. is focused on using diplomatic channels to deal with Greenland.
The speaker added that "it is an America First priority to look at our strategic and national defense initiatives and what would be advantageous to us. Greenland offers a lot of that."
North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis took to the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to rip into White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller over his comments earlier in the week about the U.S. possibly using the military to take over Greenland.
"You can say it may be the position of the president of the United States that Greenland should be a part of the United States but it is not the position of this government because we are a coequal branch and if that were come to pass there would be a vote on the floor to make it real," he said.
Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon told reporters acquiring Greenland would be "foolish."
"There is no support [in Congress] for any kind of force to take over Greenland or trying buy them. They are our allies. They want to work with us," Bacon added.
Both Bacon and Tillis are not running for reelection this year.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Senate majority leader, also spoke out against military action.
"Threats and intimidation by U.S. officials over American ownership of Greenland are as unseemly as they are counterproductive," he said in a statement Wednesday. "And the use of force to seize the sovereign democratic territory of one of America's most loyal and capable allies would be an especially catastrophic act of strategic self-harm to America and its global influence."
The Danish government has repeatedly dismissed Trump's proposals to acquire Greenland, including in a joint statement with other European leaders released Tuesday.
"Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland," the statement said.
Rubio said he plans to meet with his counterparts from Denmark and Greenland next week after they requested an urgent meeting with him on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Danish Member of European Parliament Anders Vistisen told CNN he was "fed up with this attitude from the U.S. administration."
"The clear message is that it's not for sale, it's not something you can negotiate about, and you're not going to be able to pressure or bully us into submission on this," Vistisen said.
ABC News' Lalee Ibssa and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
