Behind the closed doors in the kingdom's crisis: A warning email, a longed-for cold beer, and Vance's welcome at the meeting

Denmark's Foreign Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen (M), and Greenland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vivian Motzfeldt, were on their way to a meeting with the American vice president, J.D. Vance, and Foreign Minister Marco Rubio. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)

At 4:26 p.m. local time on Monday, an alarming email was sent to the Danish embassy in Washington, which triggered hectic activity not only at the embassy, but also at the Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister's Office, and the Defense Ministry: The planned meeting with Foreign Minister Marco Rubio was to be moved to Vice President J.D. Vance's office.

Vance, who has called Denmark a poor ally. And who gave the Ukrainian president Zelensky a public rebuke for rolling camera footage in the White House.

One word was repeated among several of those who read the email: Fuck.

In advance, preparations had been made for the meeting that was so crucial for the Realm to require serious discussions between Danes and Greenlanders – and especially among the Greenlanders themselves.

And fate would have it that the fateful meeting in Washington took place on the same day as a series of events in the Folketing, which included the Greenlandic government leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, attending a party with the prime minister, where he blamed Trump's personal insult with a cold beer. And where the American ambassador made a dramatic entrance, just before he himself flew over to participate in the meeting in Washington.

Here is the story of what happened in some of the closed rooms on the kingdom's fateful day – and to the meeting with Vance, where the vice president made a cheeky remark.

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So we did it

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The article was written based on conversations with a wide range of Danish and Greenlandic sources close to the events. DR has accepted their anonymity to be able to get close to the story of a fateful day in the kingdom's history.

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Tuesday, January 13

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*10.15: Løkke delivers the ominous message*

In a windowless room on Christiansborg, the Foreign Policy Committee was gathered. Participants had laid down their phones before entering the room without windows.

Here, Lars Løkke Rasmussen delivered the news he had been holding for several hours: The meeting was to be held at JD Vance's office.

Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen briefed on another track in the government's efforts to handle the unexpected American pressure: Danish defense would ramp up for a permanent larger presence in Greenland. It was already well underway. And several countries would be involved.

The two ministers left the meeting together to go out to meet the waiting world press and deliver the news that would change the playing field for the meeting. The tension was clear in Løkke's face. He took no questions from journalists.

- We have a flight, we have to go, he said and turned on his heel.

Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (M) was able to Tuesday afternoon to inform the public that Vice President JD Vance, in addition to participating in the meeting with Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, would also be the meeting leader. At that point, the Danish diplomacy had been holding the news since late Monday evening. (Photo: © Sebastian Elias Uth, Ritzau Scanpix)

*11.42: American flag on the jacket and Greenlandic polar bear on the collar*

But Lars Løkke Rasmussen did not go directly to the airport.

He went instead one floor down and into the Moderate group's office, where his party colleagues were in the middle of a rather ordinary group meeting. Løkke greeted briefly and took a rugbrødsmad, while the conversation continued.

He was only hanging around for 10 minutes. Before he left, he pointed to his jacket reversal, where he had sewn a small pin with the Danish and American flag side by side for the day's occasion. So he raised his one arm jacket to show his cufflinks with Greenlandic polar bears.

And then he went to the airport.

*13.45: Assurances from a stewardess*

The Danish delegation sat down in the seats on a passenger plane. The Greenlandic delegation with Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt at the helm had arrived in Washington DC the day before. Almost simultaneously with Vice President JD Vance's alarming message.

Løkke and co. were to stop over in Reykjavik. But as the minutes passed, there was a sense of nervousness. What if they didn't make their next flight from Reykjavik to Washington DC? A stewardess assured them that the plane would wait in Reykjavik.

- We know what's at stake for you.

*14.35: A hug and a crystal clear message*

Wearing a blue anorak, Jens-Frederik Nielsen arrived at the Prime Minister's Office. The young government leader, who had not yet been in charge of Greenland for a year, was greeted with a hug by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, before they sat down together with several others, including each of their department heads in a meeting room.

They were to deliver a unified message, which was to be crystal clear for all – not least the Americans – before the meeting with Vance and Rubio. Everything was carefully coordinated in advance. But they went over the papers one last time. Carefully. It was important that the message was delivered simply, precisely, unambiguously:

The chairman of Naalakkersuisut, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, went first into the press conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday afternoon, where he confirmed that Greenland stands with the Kingdom of Denmark. A message that would later be used by Trump to issue another insult. (Photo: © Liselotte Sabroe, Ritzau Scanpix)

- If we have to choose between the USA and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO, the Kingdom of Denmark and the EU, said Jens-Frederik Nielsen at the press conference.

*16.00: The elephant in the room*

A dramatic coincidence in history meant that the Folketing's annual reception for the diplomatic corps took place on Tuesday afternoon, right in the middle of the kingdom's greatest diplomatic crisis.

On shrimp-colored carpeting in the Fællessalen, the Speaker of the Folketing, Søren Gade (V), was standing with the rest of the Folketing's Presidium in the door and welcoming the many ambassadors, while they searched for one: USA's ambassador, Ken Howery. Exactly one day later, he was to participate in the meeting on Vance's side of the table in Washington.

Ken Howery was not yet there when Søren Gade began his speech on the diplomatic year, which had passed. A few minutes into the speech, his tone changed.

- I have to address the elephant in the room, he said in English.

In the same instant, something happened that seemed to have been taken out of a bad American movie, but which several participants swear is true: The elephant itself entered the room: Ken Howery. And because the entrance is six steps above the rest of the room, all eyes turned to the American ambassador.

And he listened as Søren Gade spoke of the insult it was when the USA called Denmark a poor ally. Danish soldiers, who had fought side by side with Americans, had fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq. As defense minister, he had himself participated in several burials at the time.

There was applause, but not from the whole room. Ken Howery's reaction was hard to interpret.

USA's ambassador, Ken Howery, arrived late to the Folketing's annual reception for the diplomatic corps – but just in time to hear Folketing's Speaker, Søren Gade, speak of "the elephant in the room". (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)

*19.15: And, pig and Panna Cotta*

Another complete coincidence – but for the story, fantastically – brought a number of the crisis's main characters together at the annual members' party in the Folketing, where Greenlandic and Faroese representatives also usually participate. An evening with common entertainment at the old Hofteater by Christiansborg and afterwards a three-course meal in the Folketing's canteen, Snapstinget.

At table number 1 sat, among others, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Mette Frederiksen, Troels Lund Poulsen, several Danish party leaders – and Aaja Chemnitz.

The Greenlandic Folketing member experienced exactly a year ago – to exactly the same party – to be moved from table number 31 to precisely table number 1, when Trump's threats first sent diplomatic alarms over the kingdom culminating in exactly the same party.

At Tuesday's party, Aaja Chemnitz had a gift for Mette Frederiksen as a symbol of strength and unity in the tense time; a ring of reindeer antlers shaped like two polar bears. The prime minister wore the ring the day after, when she arrived for the annual Greenlandic New Year's Eve in Copenhagen.

When Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) arrived at the annual Greenlandic New Year's Eve in Copenhagen on Thursday, she wore the polar bear ring that Aaja Chemnitz had given her as a symbol of strength and unity in the tense time. (Photo: © Sebastian Elias Uth, Ritzau Scanpix)

As the party's guests first ate and, then pig and finally Panna Cotta, more politicians came to thank Jens-Frederik Nielsen for giving his full support to the Kingdom of Denmark and thus defying the internal political storms – also in his own coalition government – in Greenland.

A comment was also made about how it was important that the Greenlandic government became unambiguous.

*23.10: In the middle of a beer, Jens-Frederik Nielsen received the insult from Trump*

After the meal, Jens-Frederik Nielsen and the rest of the party went one floor up to the Landstingssalen, where coffee, avec and chocolate were served. There was also an empty dance floor and a bar, where one could get a cold beer.

It was precisely there that the chairman of Naalakkersuisut stood with a beer in hand when his department head pulled him aside and showed him a video that had just been sent in: Donald Trump's reaction to Jens-Frederik Nielsen's clear rejection of the USA:

- I don't know who he is – I know nothing about him. But it's going to be a big problem for him, Trump said in the video on the phone.

Here stood Jens-Frederik Nielsen – with a beer in hand on Christiansborg – and learned from the world's most powerful man that he would have a big problem. Jens-Frederik Nielsen shook his head. When he won the Greenlandic election back in March, Trump had called him "a very good person".

*19.50, local time in Washington DC: Motzfeldt and Løkke in the Smoking Room*

It was in the middle of the night Danish time when Lars Løkke Rasmusen and the rest of the Danish delegation landed in Washington DC and drove directly to the embassy, where they met with Vivian Motzfeldt and the Greenlandic delegation.

There was a fire lit in both candles and peat in the Pejsestuen in the part of the embassy that forms Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen's residence. Sandwiches, coffee and sodas – and a single glass of red wine – were put on the table.

Sitting in Finn Juhl sofas, the delegations went over the plans. Again and again. The different possible scenarios. What should be said at the meeting. They were important to make sure that Danes and Greenlanders were on the same side. It has not always been the case. Motzfeldt and Løkke have themselves laid hands more than once. But for this meeting, they had to be so much on the same side that they could have been one person.

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Wednesday, January 14

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*08.00, local time in Washington DC: Breakfast and bad jokes*

Vivian Motzfeldt and Lars Løkke sat together at breakfast at the embassy. Løkke had, along with several others, his department chief, Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen, spent the night at the embassy. The latest insults from Trump were read, and bad jokes were thrown out over coffee and eggs to try to get a few smiles in the midst of the tension.

The two foreign ministers, Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Vivian Motzfeldt, made the final preparations over breakfast at the embassy a few hours before the meeting with Vance and Rubio. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)

*09.45, local time in Washington DC: Double emphasis on flag symbolism*

The two foreign ministers sat together at the back seat of the front car, which drove off from the embassy. Løkke had, as before, his pin in the reversal with the Danish and American flag side by side. Motzfeldt had a corresponding pin with the Greenlandic and American flag.

*10.30, local time in Washington DC: Handshakes and courtesy phrases*

Arrival at Vice President JD Vance's ceremonial office in the large, historic building, Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is located next to the White House.

The two foreign ministers were shown into a waiting room by Vice President JD Vance's protocol chief. To wait for Vance and Rubio. When the Americans were ready, Løkke and Motzfeldt were shown into Vice President JD Vance's ceremonial office. Handshakes, small talk. If one had not known how much was at stake for the kingdom at this very meeting, it could easily have gone for a rather ordinary meeting between close allies.

There was also taken the obligatory group photo. Smiles.

Lars Løkke and Vivian Motzfeldt wait with Vice President JD Vance's protocol chief shortly before the meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Foreign Minister Marco Rubio. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)

*10.40, local time in Washington DC: "Welcome to the Office, I'm never in"*

When the four ministers were finished with the group photo, they went into the meeting room, which belongs to Vice President JD Vance's ceremonial office, where their respective delegations with department heads, ambassadors and advisers had waited anxiously for them. An impressive room with many meters to the finely detailed ceiling.

The American vice president made a gesture and let a remark fall:

- Welcome to the Office, I'm never in (Welcome to the office, I'm never in, red.), said JD Vance with reference to the fact that they were in his ceremonial office, not his office in The West Wing in the White House.

After that, he began the meeting as meeting leader. Greeted. Courtesy phrases were exchanged.

Despite the fact that in substance it was an unusual meeting, where the kingdom had to draw clear red lines for its most important ally, the meeting went without the American reactions that the Danes and Greenlanders had feared in advance.

Vivian Motzfeldt emphasized to Vance and Rubio how the Greenlanders had lived under great pressure for over a year, which had created great uncertainty and fear. And how the Americans had reacted? They listened. Without smiling, without nodding.

There was no doubt among the Danes and Greenlanders that Trump still wanted to take over Greenland. But it was not mentioned directly on the meeting.

*11.45, local time in Washington DC: A fist bump of relief*

There was set good time for the meeting. But it took long. After a long time, Vice President JD Vance's people ended the meeting. The Danish and Greenlandic delegation left the meeting together, Lars Løkke Rasmussen with a small cake from the meeting table in hand, while he and his department chief Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen and ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen were in deep conversation about the meeting.

What followed was filmed around the world on video. The Danish foreign minister, who came out on the street and ran to the parked car to open the back door and get his coat with cigarettes in it. And made a fist bump with his ambassador.

Not a victory fist bump, but a fist bump of relief. Because the best result of the day's meeting was no result. To have managed to make it look a little more like a normal diplomatic process.

Løkke offered Motzfeldt a cigarette, which she accepted. A short pause, before foreign ministers Løkke and Motzfeldt drove back to the embassy to evaluate the meeting behind closed doors, before they again stood in front of the world press.

At that point, no one among them knew that the spokesperson for the White House, Karoline Leavitt, would only a day later at a press conference give the opposite interpretation of the meeting:

- At the meeting, the two sides agreed to set up a working group with people who will continue to have technical discussions about the takeover of Greenland.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.