‘Danes need to calm down,’ says White House official after claims US citizens seek to create discord between Denmark and Greenland
The US has told Denmark to “calm down” after the US envoy in Copenhagen was summoned over reports that American citizens are running an influence campaign in Greenland.
"We think the Danes need to calm down,” a White House official told CBS News on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said the agency had no comment regarding the activities of private American citizens in Greenland, emphasizing that their actions are neither directed nor controlled by the US government.
The US “values its relationships with Denmark, a NATO ally, and with the government and people of Greenland," and "respects the right of the people of Greenland to determine their own person," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added the US envoy’s meeting with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen was a “productive conversation.”
This came after Rasmussen summoned the US envoy on Wednesday, after state broadcaster DR revealed that at least three US citizens with connections to President Donald Trump and the White House are trying to create discord between Denmark and Greenland -- an autonomous Danish territory that Trump insists should be American soil.
DR claimed that the people built networks, infiltrated ,and compiled lists of people, either supportive or opposed to Trump and his bid to acquire Greenland.
