Should the U.S. own Greenland? Risch, Idaho’s other federal lawmakers won’t say
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- Idaho’s four federal lawmakers have been mum on their policy positions about Greenland.
- President Trump renewed his push to acquire the island, citing national security needs.
- NATO allies and some senators warned against seizure and urged respect for sovereignty.
President Donald Trump’s efforts to annex Greenland, the Arctic island territory that’s part of Denmark, has met no public pushback from any of Idaho’s federal lawmakers.
None of the state’s four Republicans in Washington, D.C., including U.S. Sen. Jim Risch — who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — has put forth their stance on the simmering international issue. Its concept has drawn scorn from European partner nations and recent objection from some GOP members in Congress.
Since returning to elected office for his second term, Trump has renewed his desire to acquire the self-governed island with a population of about 55,000 people. The Republican president has cited national security as the basis for his pursuit, arguing that Russian and Chinese activity in the area pose ongoing threats to the U.S.
“We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Trump recently told The Atlantic. “We need it for defense.”
On Friday at the White House, Trump continued to emphasize to members of the press his demand for taking control of the ice-covered land mass to the north.
“We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not,” he said. “Because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor. I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.”
Members of his administration also have continued to beat the drum for seizing the Danish territory.
“Greenland should be part of the United States. The president has been very clear about that,” White House aide Stephen Miller told CNN earlier this week. “The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?”
Miller’s remarks came just days after his wife, Katie Miller, a former Trump administration spokesperson, stirred up new tensions on the subject when she posted on X a map of Greenland covered in the American flag with a single word: “SOON.” She did so shortly after the president ordered a surprise military attack in Venezuela to arrest Nicolás Maduro, who was acting as that nation’s leader, and his wife.
At a press conference following that operation in Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned the world that when Trump commits to a decision, he will follow through.
“This is a president of action,” Rubio said. “If he says he’s serious about something, he means it.”
Risch, 82, who is running for reelection and is endorsed by Trump, did not respond to requests for comment from the Idaho Statesman. Idaho’s other three elected federal delegates — Sen. Mike Crapo, and Reps. Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher — didn’t either, nor have they offered public statements about the topic of Greenland.
Earlier this week, Risch spoke with Boise’s KIVI-TV Channel 6, and briefly addressed the matter.
“I can tell you I know of no plans to take over Greenland,” he told the local TV station.
Trump and Rubio noted at the post-Venezuela press conference that they did not inform members of Congress about that military operation ahead of time.
“Congress has a tendency to leak,” Trump said. “This would not be good.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt this week left open the door that Trump could use military force to take Greenland — what she has called an “important foreign policy goal” for the administration.
“All options are always on the table for President Trump as he examines what’s in the best interest of the United States,” she said. “But I will just say that the president’s first option, always, has been diplomacy.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, told ABC News that use of the military in Greenland is inappropriate.
Risch opponent: ‘He owes us an answer’
After Trump’s latest comments about Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the country’s prime minister, wrote on X that rhetoric about the island coming under U.S. rule is “completely unacceptable” and “disrespectful.”
“Enough is enough,” he said. “No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation.”
Similarly, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement that the U.S. “has no right” to claim any of its land and urged the Trump administration to “stop the threats against a historically close ally.”
Joined by fellow NATO partners from the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom, Frederiksen said in a subsequent joint statement that “Greenland belongs to its people.”
“It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” the statement read.
Todd Achilles, 58, a former Democratic state representative and U.S. Army veteran, is running as an independent against Risch for Senate. He called on his opponent to offer his policy position in the midst of Trump’s ongoing push to take ownership of Greenland.
“When we threaten a NATO ally, that undermines everything that NATO stands for,” Achilles told the Statesman in a phone interview. “Why isn’t Sen. Risch, as the Senate’s leader on foreign policy, speaking up? Is he still trying to get along with the White House? Is he getting too old and too tired to do this stuff? He owes us an answer.”
Fulcher’s opponent for the U.S. House seat, Democratic candidate Kaylee Peterson, 35, pressed for asserting the legislative body’s authority to establish guardrails — including against unsanctioned use of the military — for the president.
“Threatening to take Greenland by force isn’t strength, it’s a reckless abuse of power,” Peterson said by email. “National security is built through alliances and diplomacy, not intimidation. We need leaders in Congress who are willing to take a stand against this unchecked, unilateral power from the executive branch and prioritize America first policy.”
Current members of the U.S. Senate have tried to strike a similar tone.
Sens. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, have co-chaired a bipartisan group of senators that acts as a liaison between Congress and NATO since 2018. Shaheen is also the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee working alongside Risch. Together, Tillis and Shaheen called for the U.S. to respect the wishes of NATO partners.
“When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” they said in a statement.
Tillis this week took even sharper aim at Trump adviser Stephen Miller. From the Senate floor, he called Miller’s recent comments about Greenland “absurd” and “amateurish behavior with respect to the treatment of our NATO allies.”
“I’m sick of stupid,” Tillis said. “And this nonsense on what’s going on with Greenland is a distraction …”
