Monday on CNN’s “The Lead,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller backed President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Greenland should be a U.S. territory.

Host Jake Tapper said, “Can you rule out that the U.S. is ever going to try to take Greenland by force?”

Miller said, “Well, let me let me go back a step. The president has been clear for months now. So I know you’re treating this as breaking news. The president has been clear for a months now that the United States should be the nation that has Greenland as part of our overall security apparatus.”

Tapper said, “But your wife posted that, like, hours after the Venezuela operation, but that’s why it’s newly relevant.”

Miller said, “And I’ll talk with you about it for an hour. I think it’s really important conversation. I just wanted to reset Jake by making clear that has been the formal position of the U.S. government since the beginning of this administration, frankly, going back into the previous Trump administration that Greenland should be part of the United States. The president has been very clear about that. That is the formal position of the U.S. government.”

Tapper said, “Right but can you say that military action against Greenland is off the table?”

Miller said, “It wouldn’t be military action against Greenland. Greenland has a population of 30,000 people. Jake. The real question is, but what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? What is their basis of having Greenland as a colony of Denmark? The United States is the power of NATO for the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interest obviously, Greenland should be part of the United States. And so that’s a conversation that we’re going to have as a country. That’s a process we’re going to have as a as a community of nations.”

Tapper said, “So, you can’t take it off the table that the U.S. would use military force to seize Greenland.”

Miller said, “The United States should have Greenland as part of the United States. There’s no need to even think or talk about this in the context that you’re asking of a military operation. Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland. The question doesn’t make any sense.”

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