An effort to find willing hosts for Usha Vance’s visit to Greenland went embarrassingly awry, according to a Danish report.
U.S. officials went door to door in Greenland’s capital of Nuuk looking for residents who wanted to greet the second lady, Jesper Steinmetz from Denmark’s TV 2 reported. But everywhere they went, they were rejected.
The unwelcoming response forced the second lady to change her plans, Steinmetz said, ahead of her arrival with Vice President JD Vance on Friday.
Her office had announced earlier she would attend the national dogsled race and visit historical sites over several days. Apparently she had planned to meet with locals in Nuuk as well.
The itinerary was scaled back drastically. Now the Vances are jointly visiting the U.S. Space Force base at Pituffik, which is more than 900 miles away from the capital.
A senior White House official pushed back hard at the Danish report, telling The Hill in an email: “This is categorically false. The Second Lady is proud to visit the Pituffik Space Base with her husband to learn more about arctic security and the great work of the Space Base.”
ABC News had previously suggested that the addition of national security adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to the delegation was also a factor in the shifting plans.
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President Donald Trump has continued to agitate the semi-autonomous Danish territory with threats to take it over. He tried a more diplomatic tone to express his intent earlier this month, but on Wednesday warned that Americans will “go as far as we have to go” to get control of the island for security reasons.