Speaker Mike Johnson Tuesday evening swatted down the idea of any U.S. military action to take over Greenland, just after the White House said President Donald Trump wanted to acquire the territory and would not take military action off the table.
“No, I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday evening.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Tuesday that “utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal.”
The speaker, who said he hadn’t seen the statement, appeared to not believe the White House would make such a comment. Johnson did say he believed “Greenland is viewed by a lot of people as something that would be a strategic positioning for the U.S.”
Johnson said the issue didn’t come up in conversations with Trump earlier Tuesday at the House GOP retreat.