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Trump says Danish prime minister made "nasty" statement about proposal to buy Greenland

Trump slams Denmark's comments as "nasty"
Trump slams Danish prime minister's comments on Greenland as "nasty" 01:36

As President Trump left for Kentucky to speak to veterans and attend a fundraiser, he spoke to reporters about a range of issues, including the sudden cancellation of his trip to Denmark and his stance on gun background checks.

The president was asked about the sudden cancellation of his upcoming Denmark trip, which he blamed on the Danish prime minister's unwillingness to talk about selling Greenland to the U.S. He accused Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of using a "terrible word" to describe his idea about buying Greenland. "I thought it was not a nice statement — the way she blew me off. She shouldn't treat the United States that way." 

The president said Frederiksen had characterized his proposal as "'absurd.' That's not the right word to use," he opined. He also called it was a "nasty" statement, and said that all she had to do was say she wasn't interested. "They can't treat us like they treated Obama," he said. But while Mr. Trump's state visit to Denmark in early September is off, former President Obama will be traveling to Denmark at the end of September for a talk at Aalborg University. 

The president also talked about gun violence and getting rid of loopholes in background checks, which he said the NRA supports. 

"People are talking about videos. People are talking about lots of different things," he said. "But we do have a way of bringing what we already have, we have many many as you know we have many many people that are unable to buy guns right now. Many people are unable to buy guns. We have background checks. But there are loopholes in the background checks. That's what I spoke to the NRA about yesterday, they want to get rid of the loopholes as well as I do." 

The president left the White House hours after his administration announced rule changes to allow them to detain migrant families together longer. Immigrant advocates fear the change could allow families to be detained indefinitely. 

The Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services Wednesday morning announced a new rule essentially scrapping the Flores Settlement agreement, which allows families to be detained together for just 20 days. The new Trump administration rule establishes no cut-off date for how long migrant families with children could be detained. The rule will go into effect 60 days after this Friday. 

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