GOP senator says he suggested Greenland purchase to Trump, met with Danish ambassador

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.) said at an event in his home state on Wednesday that he suggested purchasing Greenland to President Trump months ago. 

“Obviously, the right decision for this country,” Cotton said when asked about Trump’s Greenland tweets at  the inaugural Talk Business and Politics Power Lunch in Little Rock, Ark., Talk Business and Politics reported.

{mosads}“I can reveal to you that several months ago, I met with the Danish ambassador and I proposed that they sell Greenland to us,” he added.

The comments from Cotton came less than a week after reports first emerged that the president had taken an interest in buying the semi-autonomous island territory, which is home to more than 50,000 people. 

Trump confirmed his interest on Sunday, telling reporters that he was interested in the land for strategic purposes. He later poked fun at the idea, tweeting a doctored picture of a Trump Tower looming over the landscape. 

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen denounced the idea as “absurd,” prompting Trump to postpone his upcoming visit to the country in September. 

“Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. 

Cotton said Wednesday that Greenland’s mineral reserves could make it valuable strategically to the U.S. He added that Greenland has great economic potential and that the island is “vital to our national security.”

“Anyone who can’t see that is blinded by Trump derangement,” he said.