WASHINGTON—A few days before Christmas, President Donald Trump named Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry special envoy to Greenland.
“Thank you, @realDonaldTrump! It’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S. This in no way affects my position as Governor of Louisiana!” Landry wrote on X on Dec. 21.
The announcement, which sparked criticism from the prime ministers of Greenland and Denmark, came less than two weeks after Trump reappointed Tom Dans to helm the U.S. Arctic Research Commission on Dec. 10.
Dans has worked to develop closer ties between the United States and the world’s largest island, located in the high north on the North American tectonic plate.
He told The Epoch Times that Landry is “ideal for the job.”
In a Dec. 22 news conference, Trump said Landry “felt very strongly” about assuming the role.
The president also reiterated his interest in acquiring Greenland.
“We need Greenland for national security,” the president said.
“If you take a look at Greenland, you look up and down the coast, you have Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” Trump said.
Fishermen travel Arctic waters near Nuuk, Greenland, on May 4, 2025. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
About Landry
Landry, who is Cajun, is a native of St. Martinville, Louisiana.
When he was a high schooler, he joined the Louisiana Army National Guard, where he served for more than a decade. He also worked as a police officer and sheriff’s deputy and was executive director of the St. Martin Parish Economic Development Authority.
The future governor earned a law degree from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2004.
In 2010, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana’s Third District, part of the Tea Party wave midway through President Barack Obama’s first term.
Landry lost a bid for reelection in 2012 against another Republican congressman, Charles Boustany. The two were forced into the same district when the state lost a congressional seat after the release of data from the 2010 U.S. Census.
He was elected Louisiana attorney general in 2015.
As attorney general, Landry was heavily involved in Missouri v. Biden, which became Murthy v. Missouri—a case challenging the Biden administration’s treatment of conservative perspectives and other views through pressure it applied to social media companies.
“We will be watching the actions of the government in relation to the 2024 election,” Landry said in a 2023 interview with The Epoch Times, after a judge issued a preliminary injunction preventing administration officials from communicating with those firms.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry waits to be interviewed by Harris Faulkner of "The Faulkner Focus" live from Southern University after receiving the school's first Chancellor's Award for Excellence and Lifetime Achievement at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., on Feb. 24, 2025. (Peter Forest/Getty Images)
“We want free, transparent elections such that Americans have the ability to debate their position on candidates, and the positions that candidates are taking—we want them to be able to have that conversation in the virtual public square without interference from the government.”
The case was ultimately dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6–3 opinion for lack of standing.
While the case was before the Supreme Court in 2024, Landry—by then governor—expressed concern regarding some of the issues justices raised during oral arguments.
“Some of the questions seem to really leave you wondering whether or not the court still has a real appreciation for the First Amendment,” he told The Epoch Times.
Landry was elected governor in 2023.
U.S. Border Patrol agents detain a man on the street in New Orleans on Dec. 3, 2025. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
His first months in office included a special crime session. One measure reversed a state law that raised the age at which individuals leave the juvenile justice system.
“It wreaked havoc on the criminal justice system. Criminals above the age of 17, the majority of them adults, would recruit 16- and 17-year-olds to commit very violent acts by promising them that they wouldn’t be in jail for long,” Landry told The Epoch Times.
The governor has said he wants the president to deploy the National Guard to New Orleans soon. The Big Easy’s high homicide rate means it is often counted among the deadliest cities in the nation and the world.
Landry and state lawmakers have also lowered taxes and pursued education reform. The state’s K–12 education system has climbed in U.S. News and World Report rankings.
Greenland Insiders React
The appointment announcement has met with varied reactions from Greenlanders and Greenland insiders.
In a joint statement to media outlets, the prime ministers of Greenland and Denmark criticized the move.
“Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the U.S. shall not take over Greenland,” Greenland’s Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen said in the statement. “We expect respect for our joint territorial integrity.”
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of the Demokraatit party, participates in a TV debate before the upcoming elections in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 8, 2025. He has served as Greenland's prime minister since April. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo)
Although Denmark has supported Ukraine through military aid and other channels as it battles Russia, its leaders have rejected the Trump administration’s appeals to its defense interests, including concerns about Russian activities in the Arctic.
“You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security,” they said.
Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, has said he will summon the U.S. ambassador.
By contrast, Jorgen Boassen, a Greenlandic Trump supporter who advocates a closer relationship between the United States and his homeland, told The Epoch Times that Landry’s appointment is “a great thing.”
He described it as an early Christmas present to the island’s Greenlandic Inuit population, a group with a history of tense relations with the Danes.
Many in Greenland hope their island, which is now under home rule, can become fully independent of Denmark, although not necessarily part of the United States.
Jørgen Boassen, a Greenland activist who favors independence and closer ties with the United States, in Washington on Aug. 14, 2025. (Nathan Worcester/The Epoch Times)
Pele Broberg, who leads opposition party Naleraq, reiterated his support for Greenlandic independence after the announcement, according to Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq.
He emphasized that the move reflects the island’s geostrategic significance, and he called for direct talks between Greenland and the United States, not talks mediated by Denmark.
Dans, Trump’s recent U.S. Arctic Research Commission appointee, said he was “thrilled to see President Trump securing the talents of Governor Landry for the nation’s service [in] this key role supporting U.S.-Greenlandic relations.”
Dans said the former representative’s loyalty to the president was coupled with “strong relationships in Congress.”
The U.S. Capitol on Dec. 18, 2025. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to authorize the acquisition of new territory, making its support critical to any U.S. bid to annex Greenland.
Congress would also have to approve any possible compact of free association with Greenland—a relationship that would leave Greenland politically independent but closely intertwine it with the United States.
Residents in Nuuk, Greenland, on May 4, 2025. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
The United States has such compacts with Micronesia, Palau, and the Marshall Islands.
Jan Jekielek contributed to this report.
