GOP Sen. James Lankford: U.S. won't invade Greenland

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., on Sunday dismissed President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to acquire Greenland by military force, saying, “The United States is not going to invade another country. That’s not who we are.”

Trump “speaks very boldly on a lot of things,” Lankford said, adding: “We’ve seen this over how he’s done negotiations, whether it be for real estate or whether — how he served as a great president just four years ago.”

Lankford’s comments come as Trump has shown a renewed interest in annexing Greenland over the last few weeks.

In a statement announcing his pick to be ambassador to Denmark last month, Trump wrote: “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”

And days later, in a Christmas Day post on Truth Social, the president-elect addressed “the people of Greenland, which is needed by the United States for National Security purposes and, who want the U.S. to be there, and we will!”

Last week, at a press conference in Florida, the president-elect suggested that he’d even be willing to use military force to gain control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.

“We need them for economic security,” he added.

“Quite frankly, the president’s been very clear,” Lankford said Sunday. “He is the president that kept American troops out of war. He is not looking to be able to go start a war, to go expand American troops, but he does want to be able to protect America’s national security, and part of that is our economic security and our future.”

Despite Lankford’s assertion that Trump wouldn’t seek to invade Greenland, presidents have conducted broad counterterrorism operations under the 2001 and 2002 authorizations for the use of military force, or AUMFs, that were passed more than 20 years ago in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Those authorizations have largely been used to justify the use of military force against those who aided the 2001 attack and “the continuing threat posed by Iraq.”

Trump’s allies have cited national security risks posed by Russia to justify procuring Greenland.

Trump’s incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News last week that Trump’s interest in Greenland is about “the Arctic.”

“You have Russia that is trying to become king of the Arctic with 60-plus icebreakers, some of them nuclear-powered,” Waltz said.

During an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Vice President-elect JD Vance said America does not need to use military force to secure Greenland but that the U.S. needs to make sure that Greenland is “properly cared for from an American security perspective.”

“Frankly, the current leadership, the Danish government, has not done a good enough job of securing Greenland,” Vance said.

“I think there actually is a real opportunity here for us to take leadership, to protect America’s security, to ensure that those incredible natural resources are developed,” Vance said. “And that’s what Donald Trump is good at. He’s good at making deals, and I think there’s a deal to be made in Greenland.”

On “Meet the Press,” Lankford also said for the first time that he planned to vote in favor of Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

When asked if he was a yes on Gabbard, Lankford told moderator Kristen Welker, “I am,” suggesting he was convinced by Gabbard’s newfound support for Section 702, an intelligence gathering tool that she consistently opposed while in Congress.

“That was a very important piece for me. Obviously, she voted against 702 authority. ... But when she came out and said, ‘Hey, this is something I’m going to stand for,’ that’s part of the role of the Office of National Intelligence, is to make sure we’re actually watching for people to come attack us and stopping them before they do,” Lankford said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com