Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said on Wednesday that he believed President Donald Trump’s administration was pursuing a legal pathway — not a military invasion — to acquire Greenland following a classified briefing.
Trump administration officials gave classified briefings to the House and Senate on Venezuela on Wednesday, Fox News reported. Kennedy said on CNN’s “The Arena” that Secretary of State Marco Rubio also addressed Greenland during the briefing and was unusually forthcoming.
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“We had a classified briefing today on both Greenland and Venezuela. And it was one of the best briefings I’ve attended. And I’ve attended a lot of them. Usually they come in and, both Democrats and Republicans, and speak to you in Sanskrit,” Kennedy said. “And they don’t tell you anything. But Rubio today really shot us straight. He did talk about Greenland. Let me give you my perspective: Even a modestly intelligent ninth grader knows that to invade Greenland would be weapons-grade stupid.”
“Now, President Trump is not weapons-grade stupid, nor is Marco Rubio. They do not plan to invade Greenland. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to seek a legal formal partnership with Greenland as to their and ours national defense,” he added. “I’m not saying they will or won’t. The president is not going to try to buy Greenland. There are 41,000 people, electors eligible to vote in Greenland. If everybody votes, 20,501 Greenlanders can vote to join America. I’m not saying that will or won’t happen, but I think that’s really what the president is up to.”
The White House said on Tuesday that Trump and his senior advisers were actively weighing options to acquire Greenland, including the potential use of the U.S. military, Reuters reported. Officials argued that Arctic dominance was central to U.S. defense strategy, particularly in countering Russia and China.
Moreover, Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman said on Wednesday that he was open to the idea of purchasing Greenland, but opposed a military invasion.
“Ideally we could purchase [Greenland]. And that’s not scandalous either,” Fetterman told reporters at the Capitol. “That’s been an idea in our history for a while. Ideally, we could purchase it. But certainly, I don’t ever support invading Greenland in the traditional sense … if they don’t sell it, we need to have a strong relationship, absolutely.”
Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul also said on Wednesday that he could support purchasing Greenland but criticized any suggestion of using force.
“I’m not against purchasing Greenland. But usually, if I want to buy something from you, if you have a horse to sell me, I don’t go up and tell you, ‘I hate you,’ and tell you, ‘I’m going to use military force to take the horse,’” Paul told reporters. “It’s not a great strategy for buying something.”
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