Republican Texas Rep. Brandon Gill sparred with CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Wednesday over potentially using the military in order for the U.S. to acquire Greenland.
President-elect Donald Trump has expressed interest in the U.S. purchasing Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark, and did not rule out using military force to acquire the land during a Tuesday press conference at Mar-a-Lago. As Keilar asked Gill about the possibility of using the military, the Republican congressman called out Democrats for allegedly allowing the U.S. to become less safe throughout President Joe Biden’s administration.
“You were born on a military base, you know you were a military kid … do you support Americans fighting, which always means potentially dying, for the U.S. to acquire Greenland or the Panama Canal?” Keilar asked.
“It’s really funny that you bring that up, I’m gonna leave the methodology to President Trump and follow his lead here, but Democrats have made the world a much less safer place over the past four years,” Gill replied. “We’ve had over a half-a-million people die in the war in Ukraine that never would have happened if President Trump was in the White House. It’s amazing to me, that all of a sudden you’re concerned about people dying in wars when a weak foreign policy under President Joe Biden is the reason that the entire world has erupted in chaos.”
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Keilar argued her concern about the deaths of military personnel is “not sudden,” and demanded that the freshman congressman answer her questions. Gill said Trump is “leaving options on the table” that he will make decisions on when he enters office.
The president-elect has also expressed interest in regaining control of the Panama Canal, where about 40% of U.S. container ships travel through. Trump said the U.S. needs the canal for “economic security” as China has a significant amount of influence in the area and has alleged that Panama overcharges U.S. vessels.
Trump said at the press conference that the U.S. needs Greenland for “national security purposes,” expressing concern about Russian and Chinese ships being seen surrounding the island. The land, which is semi-autonomous from Denmark, contains oil, natural gas and other highly valuable resources.
Gill further accused Democrats of being more interested in protecting illegal immigrants “committing crimes against American citizens” than “advancing the interests” of the U.S., and argued that the people of Denmark, Canada and Greenland should be “honored” that Trump wants these lands as territories. Trump has suggested that Canada merge with the U.S. following former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation Monday, sparking outrage from some Canadian government officials.
A reporter asked Trump at Tuesday’s conference if he can assure that no military or economic coercion will be used to gain control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, to which the president-elect said he cannot guarantee that those methods will not be used.
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