Vice Presidential Pool Reports of March 28, 2025

VP Travel Report #1 - Greenland Trip - Wheels up shortly

Good morning from Joint Base Andrews. I’m your print pooler for Vice President JD Vance’s trip to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland today. This is a day trip, and we are expected to return to JBA tonight.

During his visit, Vance is expected to receive briefings and deliver remarks to US servicemembers on the base, according to a spokesperson for the Vice President. The Vice President will be accompanied today by Second Lady Usha Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Utah Sen. Mike Lee and former Homeland Security Advisor Julia Nesheiwat, who is Waltz’s wife.

The Vice President and Second Lady arrived at JBA on Marine Two at 6:03am and boarded Air Force Two. Vance did not stop to talk.

We will be wheels up shortly. The flight time to Pituffik is approximately 5 hours and 45 minutes.

VP Travel Report #2 - Greenland Trip - wheels down at Pituffik

Air Force Two touched down at the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland at 12:52pm local time/ 11:52am ET after taking off from Joint Base Andrews at 6:18am ET.

It is -3 degrees and there are clear, sunny skies in this remote, northwestern corner of Greenland that is 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

It was an uneventful flight and nobody from the US delegation came back to speak to your poolers. We could see Waltz in one of the cabins closer towards the front of the plane. Fox News played on the televisions for the duration of the flight. We flew for hours over massive sheets of cracked ice and snow-covered mountains as we made our way up through Canada and then over to Greenland.

The Vice President and Second Lady stepped off Air Force Two at 1:07p local/ 12:07p ET. Vance is wearing blue jeans and a green coat.

The Vances were greeted by Colonel Susan Myers and Chief Master Sargent Holly Vaught of the Pituffik Space Base on the tarmac.

The Vice President and Second Lady are now scheduled to have lunch with members of the military stationed at the base before receiving briefings.

Signal is a bit spotty.

VP Travel Report #3 - Greenland Trip - Vance in the mess hall

Vance and the Second Lady entered the mess hall here on base where US Space Force Guardians in uniform were seated at long tables for lunch.

"It's cold as shit here. Nobody told me," Vance said, prompting laughs.

Vance said it was a beautiful flight here, that he's never been to Greenland before and that he's the first vice president to visit Greenland. He thanked the troops for their work on the base.

"The president is really interested in Arctic security, as you all know, and it's only going to get bigger over the coming decades," Vance said.

The Vances sat down at a table where food was already set out for them. Vance asked the people sitting near him where they were from and someone said Texas.

Your pool was then taken out of the room and loaded back into vans. Next on the agenda is military briefing on Arctic security in a conference room in a different location on base.

VP Travel Report #4 - Greenland Trip - Military briefing

Vance received a military briefing on Arctic security in a conference room on base. Vance sat at the head of the table with Space Force guardians and was asking about the annual polar bear plunge on base. Waltz, Wright and Lee were seated at the table to Vance's right. Your pool was only in the room for the first couple of minutes and did not hear any of the briefing.

The VP's office passed along a list of people present:

Conference Room Brief:
2LT Jacquelyn Harsha
Capt Kyle Frankovich
2LT Haena Lee
Sgt Jace Williams
Sgt Troy Rodriguez
MSgt Desiree Valles (Det-1)
Members behind DV at All-Call
1LT Connor McCampbell.
2LT Russell Hunter
2LT Katherine Sawyer
SMSgt Velnette Lucena
TSgt Michal Szczepanik
Sgt Elijah Hinrichs-Burnett
Sgt Richard Homer
Sgt Kendrick Leinwebber
MSgt Desiree Valles (Det-1)

Vance, Usha Vance, Waltz, Wright and Lee then posed for photos outside with guardians in front of a sign on base that says "Pituffik Space Base, The Top of The World."

Vance said "It's great, thank you," when asked how the briefing was. Sec. Wright gave a thumbs up.

Vance is now getting a briefing of the harbor, according to a Vance spokesperson. He will then give remarks on base.

VP Travel Report #5 - Greenland Trip - Vance remarks

Vance is speaking to a group of US Space Force Guardians on base and is flanked by Mike Waltz, Chris Wright and Mike Lee. Usha Vance and Julia Nesheiwat are sitting in the front row.

Vance is criticizing Denmark and says it has not done enough to keep Greenland safe.

Please check quotes to tape —

But let's be honest, what Denmark over the last 20 years has failed to do in some cases, because we know that, unfortunately, this place, this base, the surrounding area, is less secure than it was 3040, years ago, because some of our allies haven't kept up as China and Russia have taken greater and greater interest in Greenland, in this base, in the activities of the brave Americans right here.

They haven't kept pace with military spending, and Denmark has not kept pace in devoting the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and from other nations.

Our message to Denmark is very simple, you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have under invested in the people of Greenland and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful land mass, filled with incredible people.

https://otter.ai/u/Cc8tMDwjoemj0-6eNazK4k2Onkg

Speech is ongoing. Vance says he is going to take questions.

VP Travel Report #6 - Greenland Trip - Vance takes questions

Vance took several questions from reporters after delivering brief remarks. Please check the quotes to tape.

On whether the US is looking to expand its military presence in Greenland —

Are there immediate plans to expand our military presence? No, but are there, are there general objectives that we want to accomplish that will certainly require us investing more resources, investing in additional military icebreakers, investing in additional naval ships that will have a greater presence in Greenland, absolutely,

Over the medium term, the United States will meet that challenge. We will put our own resources here. We already have a lot of great resources here, but we know we're going to have to do more to counter some of our some of the nations that we know that we're competitive with.

Well, the President said we have to have Greenland, and I think that we do have to be more serious about the security of Greenland. We can't just ignore this place. We can't just ignore the President's desires. But most importantly, we can't ignore what I said earlier, which is the Russian and Chinese encroachment in Greenland.

But my argument again, to them, is, I think that you'd be a lot better having coming under the United States Security umbrella than you have been under Denmark security umbrella. Because what Denmark's security umbrella has meant is, effectively, they've passed it all off to brave Americans and hope that we would pick up the tab. We're simply saying to the people of Greenland. When the President says we've got to have Greenland, he's saying this island is not safe. A lot of people are interested in it. A lot of people are making a play. We know that America cares about the security of this island for the people, for the sake of the people of Greenland, but also for the sake of the sake of the national security interests of the United States of America. So our message is very simple, yes, the people of Greenland are going to have self determination. We hope that they choose to partner with the United States, because we're the only nation on earth that will respect their sovereignty and respect their security, because their security is very much our security, as these brave Americans show

On when there will be an update on the internal investigation into the signal chat leak —

I think we'll get an update soon. Look, we take it very seriously. We all accept that a journalist should not have been invited into the chat, and members of the administration, including my dear friend Mike, have taken responsibility for it. But I find the American media's obsession with this issue very, very interesting

And if you think you're going to force the president united states to fire anybody, you've got another thing coming. President Trump has said it on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, and I'm the Vice President saying it here on Friday, we are standing behind our entire national security team.

On tariffs —

We love the Canadian people, but the Canadian leadership threatening retaliatory tariffs against the United States, as President Trump often says, they just don't have the cards. There is no way that Canada can win a trade war with the United States. What President Trump has said is he wants to level the playing field.

Has the US agreed to the Kremlin’s conditions on the Black Sea truce?

Well, there are a couple of different statements that are floating around out there, and some of them, I think, are mistranslations, and some of them are not totally clear what is even being asked for, but the President has said, and he's right, that I think we feel very good about where things are. We trust, verify, we make sure that what we're seeing from one party is met by the other party and vice versa. But I think that we've made an incredible amount of progress.

The President is going to fight every single day to make sure that happens. And of course, we'll keep you guys updated as we continue to make progress, I do think, if you look at what we've talked about, we've obviously got this energy infrastructure Cease fire. We've got a Black Sea commercial cease fire that, I think is almost done, and once we get there, we'll work on the next stage of the cease fire.

Has the US drafted military plans to take over Greenland?

Well, what the President has said like is that we need to have more of a position in Greenland. We need it again for the safety of the American people. And what we think is going to happen is that the Greenlanders are going to choose, through self determination, to become independent of Denmark, and then we're going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there. So I think that talking about anything too far in the future is way too premature. We do not think that military force is ever going to be necessary. We think this makes sense, and because we think the people of Greenland are rational and good, we think we're gonna be able to cut a deal Donald Trump's style to ensure the security of this territory, but also the United States of America.

VP Travel Report #7 - Greenland Trip - wheels up shortly

The Vances boarded Air Force Two at 3:51pm local/ 2:51pm ET and waved at the top of the stairs. We will be wheels up shortly, and it’s a roughly 5 hour and 45 minute flight back to Joint Base Andrews.

VP Travel Report #8 - Greenland Trip - AF2 back at JBA

Air Force Two touched down at Joint Base Andrews at 8:16pm ET after taking off from Pituffik at 4:08 local/3:08 ET.

The Vances stepped off Air Force Two at 8:33pm ET and Vance waved to reporters from the stairs. They boarded Marine Two without stopping to talk, and were wheels up again at 8:37pm ET.

That’s it from me for today — have a great night, everyone!