00:00U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday that he plans to meet Danish officials
00:07next week to discuss the Trump administration's interest in taking over Greenland.
00:12Denmark and Greenland sought the meeting after U.S. President Donald Trump doubled down on the
00:18idea this week, and the White House refused to rule out using military force to seize the Arctic
00:23island, which is a self-governing territory and part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
00:27Fears heightened after Trump revived his argument following the capture of Venezuelan leader
00:33Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation last week.
00:37The president always retained the option. Every president, not this president, every president
00:41always retains the option. I'm not talking about Greenland. I'm just talking about globally.
00:45If the president identifies a threat to the national security of the United States,
00:48every president retains the option to address it through military means. As a diplomat,
00:52which is what I am now and what we work on, we always prefer to settle it in different ways.
00:56That included in Venezuela.
00:58Trump has argued that the United States needs to control the world's largest island to ensure
01:03its own security in the face of rising threats from China and Russia in the Arctic.
01:09Rubio has said the Trump administration wants to eventually purchase Greenland rather than use
01:13military force, but is considering all options.
01:18Danish Prime Minister Mehta Fredriksen warned earlier this week that a U.S. takeover would amount
01:23to the end of NATO. Rubio did not answer a question about whether the Trump administration
01:29is willing to risk the NATO alliance by potentially moving ahead with a military option regarding
01:35Greenland.
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