President Trump complained about getting overlooked for a Nobel Peace Prize in a new letter to Norway's prime minister—and tied it to his wish to control Greenland:
- "Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America," Trump wrote to Norway Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, reports Reuters.
In a statement, Stoere said he has reminded Trump multiple times that Norway's government has no sway over the independent Norwegian Nobel Committee, per the Guardian. The letter came after Stoere and Finnish President Alexander Stubb criticized Trump's plan to impose tariffs on European nations who won't back the US plan to take control of Greenland from Denmark. On that front, Trump further pressed his case:
- "Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a 'right of ownership' anyway?" asked Trump. "There are no written documents, it's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also." He added that the world "is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland."
Staffers for the US National Security Council have forwarded the letter to European ambassadors, reports Nick Schifrin of PBS. As for the peace prize, Trump has made no secret of his wish to receive the peace prize—and he accepted a second-hand one last week from Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.