Stephen Miller Says U.S. Could Take Greenland, Casting Doubt over Value of U.S. Treaties

By Brian Daitzman

Stephen Miller, a senior White House aide close to President Trump, said the United States could seize Greenland, dismissed treaty limits, and claimed Washington is “running” Venezuela after Maduro’s capture, drawing warnings from allies and the United Nations.

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, asserted Monday that Greenland “rightfully” belongs to the United States and suggested the Trump administration could seize the semiautonomous Danish territory if it chose to.

In a CNN interview with Jake Tapper, Miller declined to rule out using military force after repeated questioning. “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland,” he said.

Miller framed the dispute as a question of power, not treaty restraint. “We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” he said. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”

His comments followed renewed statements by President Trump about acquiring Greenland and a social-media post over the weekend by Miller’s wife that suggested the United States would soon take control of the island. Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, responded Sunday by urging Trump to “stop the threats,” warning that such rhetoric amounted to an attack on a NATO ally.

Greenland is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, which retains authority over defense and foreign affairs. The island’s Arctic location has made it central to U.S. and European security planning, and it is home to the U.S. military’s Pituffik Space Base. As sea ice declines, governments have increased attention on shipping routes and access to minerals, including rare earths, that are used in high-tech manufacturing.

A U.S. attempt to take Greenland by force would collide with the central premise of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s collective defense pledge, under which an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. Denmark and the United States are founding members of the alliance, created in 1949. Trump has previously said he would not rule out using the military to take the island...