Senior White House aide Stephen Miller has attempted to explain his wife Katie’s controversial social media post about Greenland.
Podcast host Miller, 34, posted a photo of a map of Greenland covered with an American flag on her X account on Saturday, with the caption “SOON.”
That led to a flurry of angry comments, including one from political commentator Keith Olbermann who noted, “If you and your psychotic husband will move there, we’ll help,” while tennis champion Martina Navratilova simply posted, “Oh do f--- off Katie!!!”
Despite claiming last month that he was “banned” from CNN, Trump’s top aide appeared on Monday’s episode of The Lead with Jake Tapper.
Tapper asked Miller about the timing of his wife’s Greenland post, which was followed by President Trump repeating his claim on Sunday that the U.S. “needs” Greenland for national security reasons.
Miller dodged the question by stating that Trump has been “clear” he wanted to take over the running of Greenland for months, claiming that CNN was “treating this as breaking news.”
Tapper countered that Miller’s wife posting about Greenland just hours after the U.S. launched a military invasion of Venezuela made it “newly relevant.”
“I‘ll talk with you about it for an hour, I think it‘s a really important conversation,” Miller said.
“But I just want to reset, Jake, by making clear that it has been the formal position of the U.S. government since the beginning of this administration—frankly, going back into the previous Trump administration—that Greenland should be part of the United States," Miller continued. “The president has been very clear about that.”
Tapper also brought up Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen saying that if the U.S. were to attack Greenland, which is controlled by Denmark, it would mean the end of the NATO alliance.
“I believe one should take the American president seriously when he says that he wants Greenland,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2. “But I will also make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War.”
When asked if military action against Greenland was off the table, Miller responded with his own question: “The real question is by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? What is their basis of having Greenland as a colony of Denmark?”
“The United States is the power of NATO,” Miller said. “For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously, Greenland should be part of the United States.”
Miller claimed that Tapper was “trying very hard... to get a catchy headline” out of their conversation that the White House aide was trying to rule out military action. Tapper responded that he was simply “trying to get an answer” to his question.
“There‘s no need to even think or talk about this in the context that you‘re asking of a military operation,” Miller said. “Nobody‘s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
