(NEW YORK) — A 21-year-old junior at Columbia University said she was the person whom federal agents were after when they showed up at a residence on West 113 Street earlier this month — and she is now suing President Donald Trump.
Federal immigration agents showed up at Yunseo Chung’s apartment near the Columbia University campus on March 13, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
However, law enforcement officials told ABC News at the time that the woman they were seeking was not there when the agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations arrived.
Chung, who has lived in the United States since she moved from South Korea at age 7 and had become a legal permanent resident, participated in demonstrations in defense of Palestinians in Gaza and in her lawsuit accused Trump and other officials of “attempting to use immigration enforcement as a bludgeon to suppress speech that they dislike” including Chung’s.
Because Chung participated in a March 5 sit-in inside of an academic building at Barnard College, in addition to demonstrating outside, the federal agents searched her dorm, showed up at her parents’ house and said her status as a legal permanent resident had been revoked, according to her lawsuit.
“The prospect of imminent detention, to be followed by deportation proceedings, has chilled her speech. Ms. Chung is now concerned about speaking up about the ongoing ordeal of Palestinians in Gaza as well as what is happening on her own campus: the targeting of her fellow students by the federal government, the arbitrary disciplinary process she and others are undergoing, and the failure of the university to protect noncitizen students,” the lawsuit said.
“If Ms. Chung is detained and deported, she will be indefinitely separated from her family and community,” the filing continued. “Ms. Chung’s parents reside in the continental United States, and her sister is set to start college in the United States in the fall.”
Trump’s administration argued that Chung’s presence poses risks to foreign policy and to halting the spread of antisemitism — the same rationale the administration invoked for the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who was escorted from Columbia on March 8.
According to the sources, the actions against Chung are part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on individuals it has described as espousing the views of Hamas and threatening the safety of Jewish students.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Top Congressional Democrats are expressing outrage after members of President Donald Trump’s administration inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, to an unsecured message thread discussing highly sensitive war plans on Monday.
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who apparently added Goldberg to the Signal chat, was joined on the thread by those identified by Goldberg as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — among others.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded forcefully on the chamber floor on Monday, calling upon Leader John Thune and Senate Republicans to work with Democrats in calling a “full investigation” into why officials had coordinated military operations over Signal, rather than using taxpayer-funded secure communications channels.
“Mr. President, this is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time,” Schumer said.
“What we have here are senior U.S. leaders, including the Vice President and Secretary of Defense, having classified discussions of military action over an unsecure app,” Schumer continued. “It’s bad enough that a private citizen was added to this chain, but it’s far worse that sensitive military information was exchanged on an unauthorized application, especially when that sensitive military information was so so important.”
“This kind of carelessness is how people get killed. It’s how our enemies can take advantage of us. It’s how our national security falls into danger,” he added.
The Democratic leader said that the investigation he’s called for should look into how this “debacle” happened, the damage it created, and how they could avoid it in the future.
“Every single Senator– Republican and Democrat and Independent, must demand accountability. If a government employee shared sensitive military plans like this, they’d be investigated and face very harsh consequences,” Schumer said.
He also suggested that his Republican colleagues should be as “outraged” by this incident as they were over the email controversy involving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the days before the 2016 election, which she lost to Trump.
“If you were up in arms over unsecure emails years ago, you should certainly be outraged by this amateurish behavior,” Schumer said.
Schumer ended his brief remarks by claiming that Democrats has anticipated an event like this one when they opposed Hegseth’s nomination.
“When Pete Hegseth came before the Senate as a nominee, Democrats warned that something like this might happen. These people are clearly not up for the job. we warned confirming them was dangerous, that they behaved recklessly. Unfortunately, we were right. Now, we must have accountability in both parties. The Senate should investigate how this blunder was even possible,” Schumer said.
Clinton also reacted. “You have got to be kidding me,” she posted on X on Monday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also advocated for a congressional investigation and directly called out Hegseth.
“There should absolutely be a congressional investigation so that we can understand what happened. Why did it happen, and how do we prevent this type of national security breach from ever happening again,” Jeffries said at a press conference on Monday.
Jeffries, who got fired up when asked about the incident, called the situation “reckless, irresponsible and dangerous” and suggested that those involved were “jeopardizing America’s national security” — before sharply criticizing Hegseth.
“This whole Trump administration is filled with lackeys and incompetent cronies. I’m not talking about any particular individual, though,” he said. “I will note that the secretary of Defense who was on that chain has got to be the most unqualified person ever to lead the Pentagon in American history. Think about that.”
Speaker Mike Johnson downplayed the flurry of national security concerns on Monday afternoon.
“Look, I’m not going to characterize what happened. I think the administration has acknowledged it was a mistake, and they’ll tighten up and make sure it doesn’t happen again. I don’t know what else you can say about,” he told reporters at the Capitol, following a White House event where he appeared alongside Trump and the governor of Louisiana.
Johnson added that he doesn’t believe Waltz or Hegseth should be disciplined for the incident.
In addition to his on-camera remarks, Jeffries released a statement on the national security breach, calling it “completely outrageous.”
“It is yet another unprecedented example that our nation is increasingly more dangerous because of the elevation of reckless and mediocre individuals, including the Secretary of Defense,” Jeffries said.
He reiterated his call for a Congressional investigation into the matter — even though Democrats have little power to do so since they are in the minority.
“If House Republicans are truly serious about keeping America safe, and not simply being sycophants and enablers, they must join Democrats in a swift, serious and substantive investigation into this unacceptable and irresponsible national security breach,” he concluded.
Speaking to reporters in Honolulu on Monday, during a layover for a trip to Asia, Hegseth disputed Goldberg’s description of the chat, saying “nobody was texting war plans.”
Trump said he “doesn’t know anything about it” when first asked about the reports on Monday afternoon. The Pentagon referred questions to the National Security Council and the White House.
When asked by ABC News on Monday, the White House said that the Signal chat “appears to be authentic.” Additionally, White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes shared with ABC News the statement he provided to The Atlantic confirming the veracity of a Signal group chat.
Both the top Republican and top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Monday that they expect to receive classified briefings aimed at addressing the incident.
ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Jay O’Brien, Lauren Peller and T. Michelle Murphy contributed to this report.
(BETHLEHEM, PA) — At a “People’s Town Hall” on Thursday held by the Democratic National Committee, in a church located in a Pennsylvania district that Democrats lost to Republicans in 2024, party leaders fired up the crowd when slamming the White House and congressional Republicans over Medicaid, federal government cuts, and other issues.
Town halls are among the strategies that Democrats are using to try to get their base fired up against the Trump White House — but attendees there and at other events say they’re still looking for the Democratic Party to take on Republicans more directly.
DNC chair Ken Martin, speaking at the Bethlehem event, called President Donald Trump and key adviser Elon Musk “cowards,” riling up the crowd by framing the work of the duo in stark terms.
“There’s nothing moral about what these cowards are doing, and there’s nothing moral about what we saw today in Washington, D.C., as Donald Musk — Donald Trump and his president, President Musk, decided to do, signing that executive order eliminating the Department of Education, which is going to have a disproportionate impact on the disabled community and so many children throughout this country,” Martin told the crowd, amidst boos towards Trump and Musk.
And Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, who received among the loudest applause of any of the panelists, took a starker tone: “Don’t let anybody tell you that we’re in a constitutional crisis,” Raskin said.
“Because that is too passive-sounding. That’s too ambiguous. This is an attack on the Constitution of the United States, and we’re going to defend the Constitution of the United States!”
Republicans face fierce pushback at in-person events
The Democratic Party claims that it’s holding these town halls as a way to hear directly from voters.
“The purpose of these town halls is not for us to spread our message, but us to hear from people throughout this country right now who are facing deep and serious impacts to their own lives, to their neighborhoods and communities, because of what this administration is doing,” Martin told ABC News on Thursday after the town hall.
But Martin and others, explicitly, are also emphasizing the idea that Democrats are showing up and hosting these events while Republicans are pulling back from hosting in-person events or facing fierce pushback from constituents when they do. Some of the loudest applause in the church on Thursday came when speakers criticized the district’s representative, Ryan Mackenzie — who in 2024 narrowly flipped the seat held by Democrat Susan Wild.
Arnaud Armstrong, a spokesman for Mackenzie, told ABC News in a statement on Wednesday that Mackenzie has answered questions at in-person events and would run a telephone town hall on Thursday night to allow for more people to speak with the congressman, including people with disabilities or seniors who might struggle to make it to an in-person event.
During that telephone town hall, Mackenzie said, “This is the best way that I have found to reach literally thousands of people at once and be able to have this kind of conversation.”
Disillusioned Democrats
The town halls come as Democratic voters show disillusion with their party.
A recent CNN/SSRS poll taken in early March found that 52% of Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents felt that the leadership of the Democrats is taking the party in the wrong direction, and that 57% felt that the party should mainly work to “stop the Republican agenda.”
While waiting in line outside to enter the town hall, some residents of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley region told ABC News that President Donald Trump’s actions struck close to home or worried them — but that they felt disillusioned with the broader Democratic response so far.
‘Very mixed feelings’ on Democrats’ response to Trump
Carole Ostfeld, a retired teacher from Allentown, Pennsylvania, came bearing a sign that said “Hands off Medicaid.” She and her husband David told ABC News that they came out to the town hall in order to protest Trump and Musk, including because of Trump’s actions with the Department of Education.
But asked how they feel about the Democratic response to the Trump administration, Carole Ostfeld said, “I’ve got very mixed feelings –“
Her husband added, “It needs to be more.”
Asked if Democrats’ messaging is resonating with them, Carole Ostfeld said it is — but, “as they say, you can’t fight city hall,” as Republicans are in power.
Another attendee, Ann Frechette of Easton, Pennsylvania, said the news about Trump signing an order to dismantle the Department of Education, which came that day, struck close to home. “I have a son in college who benefits from a Pell Grant,” she told ABC News. “And I’m afraid that that Pell Grant will disappear, that monies like that will disappear. He’s on Medicaid, I think he may lose his health insurance. There’s so many things.”
But the broader Democratic response was disillusioning her as well. While she praised some individual lawmakers, including Raskin, she added, “I think the Democrats in general, they don’t — I’m a Democrat, but my party doesn’t seem to get the message that was delivered last November. I would like people to stand up to what is being done.”
Firing up supporters
That said, the town hall itself was by many measures a success — or at least, the Democratic speakers were able to fire up their supporters.
All of the pews were filled, with some attendees standing on the back or the sides of the sanctuary; and the crowd gave thunderous standing ovations to the speakers multiple times – particularly when, for instance, Raskin spoke about taking on Trump or former Democratic Rep. Susan Wild criticized the incumbent representative.
People paid attention as audience members shared their own stories and questions, and then applauded them warmly, cheering on their peers in a clear show of support.
During a question and answer portion of the town hall, attendees raised concerns about the future of Medicaid, educational programs, and other issues.
Another attendee, Terri Neifert, told the crowd that she has lived in Bethlehem almost her entire life and became disabled after a fall at a grocery store, which changed the trajectory of her life. She said she managed to get her degree and to support her family through Medicare, food banks, and Social Security disability.
“If they cut Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps… I would lose everything,” Neifert told the crowd.
Neifert received a round of applause from the audience, and other attendees went up to her after the event wrapped to thank her for sharing her story.
Asked by ABC News after the town hall how she was feeling by then about the Democrats’ response to the Trump administration, Neifert — similar to other attendees — focused on the road ahead.
“It looks like it’s gonna be a fight, and an uphill battle… more public outcry, more marches, and Congress needs to pull up their big boy pants and start doing their job,” Neifert said.
Going on the road
Some Democrats or Democratic-aligned allies are taking a different tack than the town halls — and going on the road.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive independent who caucuses with Democrats, has been on the road for weeks with what he calls the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, making stops for rallies in both right- and left-leaning districts. The Democratic Party has shown support for his efforts, reposting social media posts from Sanders about the tour.
Out there on Sanders’ tour, some attendees said they’re disillusioned with the party’s response to Trump.
“They gotta be a little tougher,” one rally attendee told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl at the Denver event. Another was blunter: “Quit being a bunch of doormats.”
But — in a sign that the rallies may be a successful tactic for Democrats to reach their base — they’re attracting thousands of people. Sander’s Denver appearance, alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., brought in more than 30,000 attendees.
Sanders said it was the largest rally he’s ever hosted — bigger than the rallies on his two presidential runs.
Sanders himself has his own criticism for the Democratic Party, telling Karl in an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” that the Democrats should have done more for working people when they had control of the Senate.
“And since then, do I think the Democrats have been effective in rallying the American people, in stopping Trump’s movement toward oligarchy and authoritarianism? No, I don’t,” Sanders told Karl.
Donna Brazile, a former DNC chair and an ABC News contributor, said on “This Week” after Sanders’ interview, said, “Bernie Sanders is filling a void, a major void left after, of course, the defeat of Kamala Harris last year by Donald Trump. This void has to be filled because there’s so much anger, anger not just in red districts, but also in blue districts.”
That void is one that Democrats hope to fill with these events.
Martin, asked by ABC News after the Bethlehem town hall if he thought the messages of the Democrats is going to resonate in Republican districts or with Democrats themselves, said that wasn’t really the point.
“It’s really not about the message resonating,” Martin said. “What this is about is listening to people. Hearing the concerns of Americans right now throughout this country, who deserve to be heard, right?”
Martin added later: “We’re going to fill a void for them, and we’re going to talk to more people throughout this country.”
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Isabella Murray, Jonathan Karl, Meghan Mistry and Quinn Scanlan contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — As President Donald Trump’s battle with the judiciary escalates, House Republicans are eyeing ways to rein in judges from blocking parts of his agenda.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said on Monday his panel will hold hearings next week on U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who is at the center of the administration’s legal fight over deportation flights and the Alien Enemies Act.
Trump accused Boasberg — an Obama appointee who was first named to a lower Washington, D.C., court by President George W. Bush — of bias and called for his impeachment after he blocked the administration from using a centuries-old law to deport more than 200 alleged gang members to El Salvador.
Trump and his Republican allies, including Jordan, have also taken issue with the use of injunctions and temporary restraining orders to halt Trump policies nationwide as the courts weigh the merits of each case.
“It really starts to look like Judge Boasberg is operating purely political against the president, and that’s what we want to have hearings on — this broad issue and some of what Judge Boasberg is doing,” Jordan said on Fox News.
Jordan said he thought Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will do the same.
In addition to hearings, Jordan said he expects House Republican leadership to move forward with a bill from California Rep. Darrell Issa aimed at limiting some judges’ power to issue nationwide injunctions.
Issa’s bill — entitled the “No Rogue Rulings Act” — would put restrictions on federal judges issuing orders providing injunctive relief that impacts the entire country outside their districts.
Jordan called it a “good piece of legislation.” The bill was voted out of the House Judiciary Committee before lawmakers broke for recess earlier this month.
Speaker Mike Johnson appears to be warming up to the idea of potentially impeaching judges who rule against Trump, saying “everything is on the table.”
“Impeachment is an extraordinary measure. We’re looking at all the alternatives that we have to address this problem. Activist judges are a serious threat to our system,” Johnson said Monday afternoon.
Johnson confirmed that the GOP-led House will hold hearings to “highlight the abuses” of federal judges — saying lawmakers “may wind up questioning some of these judges themselves to have them defend their actions.”
“We’ll see about limiting the scope of federal injunctions,” he added. “One judge should not be able to suspend and uphold everything that a president does on their issues. I think the American people agree with that.”
Over the weekend, Johnson appeared to endorse the measure, writing on X that the House is “working overtime to limit the abuses of activist federal judges.”
“Speaker Johnson’s indicated he’d like to get this bill to the floor next week and move it through the process,” Jordan told Fox News. “So, we think there’s some things we can do legislatively, and then, frankly, there’s the broader issue of all these judges’ injunctions and then decisions like Judge Boasberg … what he’s trying to do, and how that case is working.”
Meanwhile, the push from Trump, Elon Musk and several Republican hardliners to impeach Boasberg and other judges faces steeper obstacles.
Johnson has not said where he stands on pursuing impeachment, but given the slim House majority, it would be extremely difficult to get the House Republican conference together to vote to impeach a judge.
If the House were to successfully impeach a judge, the Senate would be compelled to act in some way, but the odds of a Senate conviction are almost zero, as it would require support from at least 14 Democrats.
As the rhetoric ramps up between the Trump administration and the courts, the U.S. Marshals Service is warning federal judges of an increase in threats, ABC News reported. Chief Justice John Roberts last week issued a rare public statement amid Trump’s attacks on Boasberg, saying impeachment was not “an appropriate response” to legal disagreements and that the correct path forward was the appeals process.
(WASHINGTON) — Members of the Trump administration coordinated highly sensitive Yemen war plans on an unsecure group chat, which accidentally included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, he wrote in a report for the publication on Monday.
White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes shared with ABC News the statement he provided The Atlantic confirming the veracity of a Signal group chat, which Goldberg said included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security,” Hughes said in the statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday named Alina Habba, his personal attorney-turned-White House counselor, to serve as the next interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.
“Alina will lead with the same diligence and conviction that has defined her career, and she will fight tirelessly to secure a Legal System that is both ‘Fair and Just’ for the wonderful people of New Jersey,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Habba told reporters outside the West Wing after the announcement that she’s going to do a “bang-up job” tackling corruption.
“As you know, I’ve stood by President Trump, his family, the [Trump] organization, and many other clients in that state where I’ve been born and raised, and I’m raising my babies now, but there is corruption, there is injustice, and there is a heavy amount of crime right in [Sen.] Cory Booker’s backyard and right under Governor [Phil] Murphy, and that will stop,” Habba said without making any specific allegations of corruption.
Asked who she will go after, she said, “We’ll see when I get in there.”
Pressed on whether she would go after politicians, she shot back that the media would “love that narrative.” When it was pointed out that she had mentioned politicians in her remarks, she said, “I didn’t,” but when reminded that she had mentioned Booker and Murphy, she admitted it.
“Correct, because I think Cory Booker and Governor Murphy have failed the state of New Jersey. If you look at what happened in crime, what’s going on in Newark, what’s going on in Camden, this has been a neglected state,” she said. “It is one of the most populated states for its size, and it needs to stop. We’re going to do a bang-up job. I cannot wait. It’s a great honor.”
Habba did not answer repeated questions on why Trump appointed her to the role on an interim basis rather than permanently, and she would not say if she had political ambitions in New Jersey.
“I look forward to working with [Attorney General] Pam Bondi, with the Department of Justice, and making sure that we further the president’s agenda of putting America first, cleaning up mess and going after the people that we should be going after, not the people that are falsely accused,” she added. “That will stop in the great state of New Jersey, starting now.”
Earlier Monday Habba posted on X, “I am honored to serve my home state of New Jersey as Interim U.S. Attorney and I am grateful to President Trump for entrusting me with this tremendous responsibility. Just like I did during my time as President Trump’s personal attorney, I will continue to fight for truth and justice. We will end the weaponization of justice, once and for all.”
Trump said Habba would replace the current interim U.S. attorney, John Giordano, who he will nominate to be the ambassador to Namibia.
Habba rose to fame as a member of Trump’s circle after several years in private practice in New Jersey.
After working as a merchandiser at fashion company Marc Jacobs for two years, Habba attended Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Pennsylvania, graduating in 2011. She served a yearlong clerkship with then-New Jersey Superior Court Judge Eugene Codey Jr. then worked in private practice for eight years at two separate firms before starting her own practice in 2020, focusing on civil and commercial litigation.
After reportedly becoming acquainted with Trump through membership in his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, Habba’s big break with the former president came when she represented him in a $100 million lawsuit against the New York Times and his estranged niece, Mary L. Trump.
The New York Times lawsuit was ultimately dismissed, and Habba’s other cases for Trump have resulted in a mixed record. She received praise from Trump after Summer Zervos, a former “Apprentice” contestant who accused the former president of sexual assault, dropped her defamation case against Trump.
But when Habba filed a lawsuit claiming that Hillary Clinton and others conspired to damage Trump’s reputation, the judge overseeing the case dismissed the suit, accused Trump of “using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries,” and fined Trump and Habba nearly $1 million.
Habba became linked to Trump by serving as his legal spokesperson on the heels of his four criminal indictments, and appearing by his side every day he has attended his civil fraud trial in New York. Along the way, her firm has been paid $3.6 million from Trump’s political action committees, according to records reviewed by ABC News.
She has cited her experiences with the former president to not only defend his conduct but also his character. Appearing on Fox News after Trump was indicted for the unlawful retention of classified documents in Florida, she said of Trump, “He’s the most ethical American I know.”
In announcing her appointment as counselor to the president in December, Trump said “Alina has been a tireless advocate for Justice, a fierce Defender of the Rule of Law, and an invaluable Advisor to my Campaign and Transition Team. She has been unwavering in her loyalty, and unmatched in her resolve – standing with me through numerous ‘trials,’ battles, and countless days in Court.”
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous contributed to this report
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of a district court judge’s order that 16,000 terminated federal probationary employees across six agencies and departments be immediately reinstated.
The request is the latest challenge to a nationwide preliminary injunction issued by a federal district court judge in response to Trump’s executive actions reshaping the government.
Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris argues in the filing that the labor unions and nonprofit groups that challenged the mass firings lack standing, saying they have “hijacked the employment relationship between the federal government and its workforce.”
She claims the judge’s order also violates separation of powers.
“This Court should not allow a single district court to erase Congress’s handiwork and seize control over reviewing federal personnel decisions — much less do so by vastly exceeding the limits on the scope of its equitable authority and ordering reinstatements en masse,” Harris wrote.
Harris said the executive Office of Special Counsel and the Merit Systems Protection Board are the proper venues for plaintiffs challenging their terminations.
The Supreme Court is already weighing the administration’s request for emergency relief in three cases over Trump’s executive order ending Birthright Citizenship.
Disputes over the Alien Enemies Act and over the dissolution of U.S. Agency for International Development and freezing of aid payouts are also likely bound for the high court in the coming weeks and months.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday named Alina Habba, his personal attorney-turned-White House counselor, to serve as the next interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.
“Alina will lead with the same diligence and conviction that has defined her career, and she will fight tirelessly to secure a Legal System that is both ‘Fair and Just’ for the wonderful people of New Jersey,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Habba vowed to “end the weaponization of justice, once and for all” in her new position.
“I am honored to serve my home state of New Jersey as Interim U.S. Attorney and I am grateful to President Trump for entrusting me with this tremendous responsibility,” she posted on X. “Just like I did during my time as President Trump’s personal attorney, I will continue to fight for truth and justice. We will end the weaponization of justice, once and for all.”
Trump said Habba would replace the current interim U.S. attorney, John Giordano, who he will nominate to be the ambassador to Namibia.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Second lady Usha Vance will be part of a delegation traveling to Greenland this week, after President Donald Trump’s repeated statements that the U.S. should own and control the semiautonomous Danish territory.
Vance’s office announced the trip on Sunday, describing it as one dedicated to learning about Greenlandic culture with stops at historical sties and its national dogsled race.
But White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright will be joining her, the National Security Council confirmed to ABC News.
“The U.S. has a vested security interest in the Arctic region and it should not be a surprise the National Security Advisor and Secretary of Energy are visiting a U.S. Space Base to get first-hand briefings from our service members on the ground,” National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede, in a statement to Greenland’s Sermitsiaq newspaper, called the upcoming visit part of a “very aggressive American pressure against the Greenlandic community” and called for the international community to step in to rebuke it.
Trump reintroduced his first-term suggestion for U.S. ownership of Greenland, the world’s largest island and a semiautonomous territory within Denmark, during the presidential transition. It again prompted Greenland officials to emphasize the island territory is not for sale.
His son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Greenland in early January, weeks before the inauguration. Trump Jr. said it was a personal visit and that he was not meeting with officials, though the president still celebrated it and alluded to a “deal” that he said “must happen.”
At one point, he notably declined to rule out military force to acquire Greenland.
Trump officials have pointed to Greenland as a key interest for national security as China and Russia ramp up activity in the Arctic. Greenland is also rich in valuable minerals, including rare earth minerals — the accession of which has become part of Trump’s foreign policy agenda.
In his joint address to Congress earlier this month, Trump said his administration needed it for “international world security.”
“And I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” Trump said.
Trump’s interest in Greenland comes as he’s pushed similar land grabs of Canada and the Panama Canal. Amid a trade war with Canada, Trump has called for America’s northern ally to become the 51st state, though his nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to Canada has noted that it’s a sovereign state.
Ahead of her visit to Greenland on Thursday, second lady Vance released a video saying she was going to “celebrate the long history of mutual respect and cooperation between our nations and to express hope that our relationship will only grow stronger in the coming years.”
The National Security Council said Waltz and Wright “also look forward to experiencing Greenland’s famous hospitality and are confident that this visit presents an opportunity to build on partnerships that respects Greenland’s self-determination and advances economic cooperation.
“This is a visit to learn about Greenland, its culture, history, and people and to attend a dogsled race the United States is proud to sponsor, plain and simple,” the National Security Council said in its statement.
But Greenland’s prime minister, in a Facebook post, said Vance’s trip “cannot be seen only as a private visit.”
Egede added, “It should also be said in a bold way that our integrity and democracy must be respected, without any external disturbance.”
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie and Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Second lady Usha Vance will be part of a delegation traveling to Greenland this week, after President Donald Trump’s repeated statements that the U.S. should own and control the semiautonomous Danish territory.
Vance’s office announced the trip on Sunday, describing it as one dedicated to learning about Greenlandic culture with stops at historical sties and its national dogsled race.
But White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright will be joining her, the National Security Council confirmed to ABC News.
“The U.S. has a vested security interest in the Arctic region and it should not be a surprise the National Security Advisor and Secretary of Energy are visiting a U.S. Space Base to get first-hand briefings from our service members on the ground,” National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede, in a statement to Greenland’s Sermitsiaq newspaper, called the upcoming visit part of a “very aggressive American pressure against the Greenlandic community” and called for the international community to step in to rebuke it.
Trump reintroduced his first-term suggestion for U.S. ownership of Greenland, the world’s largest island and a semiautonomous territory within Denmark, during the presidential transition. It again prompted Greenland officials to emphasize the island territory is not for sale.
His son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Greenland in early January, weeks before the inauguration. Trump Jr. said it was a personal visit and that he was not meeting with officials, though the president still celebrated it and alluded to a “deal” that he said “must happen.”
At one point, he notably declined to rule out military force to acquire Greenland.
Trump officials have pointed to Greenland as a key interest for national security as China and Russia ramp up activity in the Arctic. Greenland is also rich in valuable minerals, including rare earth minerals — the accession of which has become part of Trump’s foreign policy agenda.
In his joint address to Congress earlier this month, Trump said his administration needed it for “international world security.”
“And I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” Trump said.
Trump’s interest in Greenland comes as he’s pushed similar land grabs of Canada and the Panama Canal. Amid a trade war with Canada, Trump has called for America’s northern ally to become the 51st state, though his nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to Canada has noted that it’s a sovereign state.
Ahead of her visit to Greenland on Thursday, second lady Vance released a video saying she was going to “celebrate the long history of mutual respect and cooperation between our nations and to express hope that our relationship will only grow stronger in the coming years.”
The National Security Council said Waltz and Wright “also look forward to experiencing Greenland’s famous hospitality and are confident that this visit presents an opportunity to build on partnerships that respects Greenland’s self-determination and advances economic cooperation.
“This is a visit to learn about Greenland, its culture, history, and people and to attend a dogsled race the United States is proud to sponsor, plain and simple,” the National Security Council said in its statement.
But Greenland’s prime minister, in a Facebook post, said Vance’s trip “cannot be seen only as a private visit.”
Egede added, “It should also be said in a bold way that our integrity and democracy must be respected, without any external disturbance.”
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie and Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.
