Senior White House official Stephen Miller reaffirmed the Trump administration’s long-standing position that Greenland should become part of the United States, while insisting that the issue should not be framed in terms of military action.
Speaking on CNN’s The Lead, senior White House adviser Miller described U.S. ownership of Greenland as settled policy and rejected repeated questions from host Jake Tapper about whether force could ever be used against Denmark, which oversees the semi-autonomous Arctic territory.
“The United States should have Greenland as part of the United States. There’s no need to even think or talk about this in the context that you’re asking, of a military operation,” Miller said. “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
Tapper: Can you rule out military action against Greenland?
Stephen Miller: We wouldn’t need military action. Greenland has a population of 30k people, Jake. The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?
So good.🔥 pic.twitter.com/LGy8zX1ymE
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) January 5, 2026
President Donald Trump has repeatedly argued that Greenland’s strategic location makes it vital to American defense interests, remarks that have drawn renewed scrutiny following the administration’s recent operation capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and transferring him to New York to face charges.
“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?” Miller said. He argued that U.S. leadership within NATO made American control of Greenland a logical extension of alliance security. “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,” he said. “And so that’s a conversation that we’re going to have, as a country.”
President Trump says the US should have Greenland for the standpoint of national security and the European Union should support that.
If the EU doesn’t then the US should defund NATO and the UN.
The US has subsidized the EU globalists for far too long.pic.twitter.com/aayfEm4VxR
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) January 5, 2026
In comments to reporters over the weekend, Trump emphasized the island’s geopolitical importance. “It’s so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” he said. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”
European leaders responded sharply. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that any use of force against a NATO ally would have sweeping consequences, noted The Hill. “I believe one should take the American president seriously when he says that he wants Greenland,” Frederiksen said in an interview. “But I will also make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War.”
