Trump-Greenland latest: US president’s flight to Davos turns back over ‘electrical issue’ on Air Force One

President Donald Trump’s plane, Air Force One, is returning to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after departing for Switzerland due to a “minor electrical issue”, the White House said.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the decision to return was made out of an abundance of caution.

A reporter on board said the lights in the press cabin of the aircraft went out briefly after takeoff, but no explanation was offered, the Associated Press reported.

Trump will board another aircraft upon his return and continue on with his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The two planes currently used as Air Force One have been flying for nearly four decades. Boeing has been working on replacements, but the program has faced a series of delays.

Last year, the ruling family of Qatar gifted Trump a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet to be added into the Air Force One fleet, a move that faced great scrutiny.

Leavitt joked to reporters on Air Force One Tuesday night that a Qatari jet was sounding “much better” right now.

President Donald Trump said he had a “very good call” with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, without elaborating.

Trump yesterday told reporters during a briefing at the White House that he was going to have “a very important call” with Erdogan.

“It was a very good call,” Trump said, as he left the White House to go to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

US television host Jesse Watters has called it “hilarious” for Europe to “lecture” America about a “land grab”.

Speaking on Europe’s rebuke of US President Donald Trump’s push to acquire Greenland, a semi-automous terrority of Denmark, Watters said on his Fox News, “Isn’t it hilarious listening to Europeans lecture us about a land grab, when Europe colonized the entire world. Now, they change the rules after they lost their power and empire”.

“What Europe doesn’t understand is that Greenland is an island in North America…And we have dominion over the entire western hemisphere. Europeans cannot just have colonies right off the coast of Maine. We let the British have Bermuda because it’s cute, but if we needed Bermuda, we’d take it. And the British would let it happen”, Watters continued.

Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Evantesson has called US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on several European nations to pressure the sale of Greenland a “new low”.

“I think it’s sad and totally absurd that we have an American president who’s blackmailing the rest of us, trying to get a piece of land or buy it through threats”, Ms Evantesson said in a clip shared by euronews Tuesday. “It’s a new low, so to speak”.

She added: “My message today will be that let’s stand together, let’s put pressure back on the US”.

Greenlander Jens Kjeldsen stands outside the US Consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, every morning before sunrise to protest US President Donald Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland.

Kjeldsen told the Associated Press, “I walk together with the three flags of our Commonwealth of Faroe Islands and Greenland and Denmark. We are equal and we want to remain like that, and we stand together with those who stand behind us, like the European Union and NATO.”

Fellow protester Aviaq Brandt told the AP, “I’m here to put our flag in front of the Consulate for United States to show Donald Trump and to show the world that the only flag that belongs in Greenland is our flag.”

• Greenland is the world’s largest island that is not a continent. About 56,000 people live on the island, mostly in the 20 per cent of the land that is not covered by ice and snow.
• Greenland was ruled by Denmark from the early 18th century until 1979, when it gained home rule. In 2009, Greenland gained more autonomy with the Self-Government Act, but Denmark still controls foreign, defence and security policies.
• Greenlanders make money through fishing, but sheep farming is also popular in the far south of the island. Greenland is finding ways to profit from the island’s mineral resources, including gold and natural gas.

US President Donald Trump said shortly before 2:30 a.m. GMT that America will be “well represented” at the World Economic Forum before heading to Davos, Switzerland.

“America will be well represented in Davos — by me. GOD BLESS YOU ALL! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP”, the US president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.