The US State Department wants to hand over documents and private emails from embassy employees in Denmark.
Employees at the US Embassy in Copenhagen and the US Consulate in Nuuk have been asked to hand over all material relating to US President Donald Trump and his desire to buy Greenland.
The order comes from the US State Department. Politiken writes this based on a number of internal emails that the newspaper has in its possession.
The US State Department refers to the material being used to respond to a freedom of information request.
It is not clear who requested access to the documents, writes Politiken.
The approximately 30 employees at the embassy and consulate must hand over both classified and unclassified material. This includes documents and written communications about Trump and Greenland.
Material concerning the visit of the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. to Greenland on January 7, 2025, must also be handed over to the US State Department.
In addition, employees must provide additional information from private emails, text messages and social media posts.
Order from high-ranking head of embassy
The request covers a period of three months from October 1, 2024 to January 7, 2025 – the same day as Donald Trump Jr.’s visit to Greenland.
The employees received the order on June 13th and were given a week to submit the material.
The order came from a high-ranking embassy official acting on instructions from the US State Department, which was to use the material to respond to a request for access to documents.
Several experts that Politiken has spoken to are puzzled by the request for access to documents.
One of them is Niels Bjerre-Poulsen, associate professor at the Center for American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark.
Among other things, he wonders how quickly the request for access to documents has been processed.
– I myself have written an application to American authorities for access to documents, which has taken the authorities over eight years to process, he tells Politiken.
/ritzau/