Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton said he brought up the idea of Denmark selling Greenland to the U.S. with the Danish ambassador months before President Trump voiced interest in the idea.
“Obviously, the right decision for this country,” the Arkansas Republican said Wednesday. “Several months ago, I met with the Danish ambassador and I proposed that they sell Greenland to us.”
Cotton said the island’s “economic potential is untold” and it’s “vital to our national security.”
“Anyone who can’t see that is blinded by Trump derangement,” he said.
The U.S. operates one military base, Thule Air Base, in northern Greenland. President Harry S. Truman offered Copenhagen $100 million for the island in the lead up to the Cold War, but the idea was eventually dropped.
Cotton, a member of the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees, said China sought to build three military bases in Greenland in 2018, but the Trump administration and members of Congress convinced Denmark to block the deal.
“I told the president you should buy it as well,” Cotton said. “[Trump] heard that from me and from some other people as well.”
But Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has brushed off the idea of selling Greenland to the U.S., calling the idea “absurd.” Trump responded by canceling his early September trip to the country.
