Topline
President Donald Trump shared text messages purportedly sent to him by his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, addressing his push for the U.S. to take control of Greenland as the president appeared to double down on this demand.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with French President Emmanuel Macron in the Oval Office at the White House.
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Key Facts
In a Truth Social post titled “Note from President Emmanuel Macron, of France,” Trump shared a screenshot of a text that read: “My friend, We are totally in line on Syria, We can do great things on Iran, I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland.”
In the message, Macron offered to set up a G7 meeting after in Paris later this week after the Davos summit and wrote: “I can invite the ukrainians, the danish, the syrians and the russians in the margins.”
Élysée Palace has yet to comment on the veracity of the message, but an unnamed source close to Macron confirmed to CNN that it was sent by the French President.
It is unclear why Trump has chosen to share the private text message on social media, but it comes after Macron has criticized Trump’s Greenland stance and labeled his new tariff threats over it as “unacceptable.”
Trump also shared a private message purportedly from Rutte, praising Trump’s accomplishments in Syria and promising to use his media engagements at Davos to highlight his work in Gaza and Ukraine.
Rutte ended the text saying he is “committed to finding a way forward on Greenland,” without any further context.
What Else Has Trump Said About Greenland?
Commenting on reports about the letter he sent to the Norwegian Prime Minister, in which Trump linked his recent aggressive stance on taking over Greenland to his not winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump told reporters he doesn’t “care about the Nobel Prize.” The president then added, “First of all, a very fine woman felt that I deserved it and really wanted me to have the Nobel Prize. And I appreciate that,” he added. This was in reference to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s decision to present him with her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal last week, even though the award is not transferable. Trump then doubled down on his stance that Denmark is incapable of protecting Greenland and questioned their sovereignty over the territory once again. “They can’t protect it. Denmark…And you know, because the boat went there 500 years ago and then left, that doesn’t give you title to property. So we’ll be talking about it with the various people,” Trump told reporters in Miami.
Tangent
The president appeared to double down on his intent to take control of Greenland as he shared what appeared to be an AI-generated image of himself planting an American flag in the Arctic territory with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio standing alongside. Trump also shared another AI-generated image of him sitting in the Oval Office, addressing top leaders from Europe, along with a map of the Western hemisphere showing all of Canada, Greenland and Venezuela as part of U.S. territory.