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WASHINGTON — A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation is headed to Copenhagen later this week in an attempt to show unity between the United States and Denmark as President Donald Trump continues to threaten to seize Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of the NATO ally.

Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.) is leading the trip of at least nine members of Congress, including Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. The group will be in Copenhagen on Friday and Saturday, according to a congressional aide familiar with the trip’s planning. The lawmakers will meet with high-level Danish and Greenlandic government officials and business leaders, according to the aide, granted anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.

In an interview with the Associated Press on Monday, Coons said the delegation wants to send a message that “we understand the value of the partnership we have long had with them, and in no way seek to interfere in their internal discussions about the status of Greenland.”

Coons stressed that the United States and Denmark have long been allies, noting that the northern European nation came to the U.S.’ defense in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the two nations have for years worked in tandem on other priorities.

“As long as we have been constructive and respectful allies, the Danes have been open arms with us on security and investment and the region,” Coons said, adding: “I think the only thing that has changed is the recent statements by the president and the extent to which it seems to have gone from casual to serious, and I just think it’s important for us to be heard as strongly supporting NATO and our alliance.”

The trip comes as China said Monday that the United States shouldn’t use other countries as a “pretext” to pursue its interests in Greenland and said that its activities in the Arctic comply with international law.

The comment by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson came in response to a question at a regular daily briefing. Trump has said that he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous region of NATO ally Denmark, to prevent Russia or China from taking it over.

Tensions have grown between Washington, Denmark, and Greenland this month as Trump and his administration push the issue and the White House considers a range of options, including military force, to acquire the vast Arctic island.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO. On Friday, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and the leaders of the four other parties in the territory’s parliament issued a joint statement reiterating that Greenland’s future must be decided by its people and emphasizing their “wish that the United States’ contempt for our country ends.”

Trump reiterated his argument that the U.S. needs to “take Greenland,” otherwise Russia or China would, in comments aboard Air Force One on Sunday. He said he’d rather “make a deal” for the territory, “but one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”

China in 2018 declared itself a “near-Arctic state” in an effort to gain more influence in the region. Beijing has also announced plans to build a “Polar Silk Road” as part of its global Belt and Road Initiative, which has created economic links with countries around the world.

Asked in Beijing Monday about U.S. statements that it is necessary for Washington to take over Greenland to prevent China and Russia from taking control, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning replied, “China’s activities in the Arctic are aimed at promoting peace, stability, and sustainable development in the region and are in accordance with international law.” She didn’t elaborate on those activities.

“The rights and freedoms of all countries to conduct activities in the Arctic in accordance with the law should be fully respected,” Mao said, without mentioning Greenland directly. “The U.S. should not pursue its own interests by using other countries as a pretext.”

She said that “the Arctic concerns the overall interests of the international community.”

Danish and Greenlandic envoys are expected in Washington this week for talks.

ROME — Pope Leo XIV met with Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado in a private audience at the Vatican on Monday, during which the Venezuelan leader asked him to intercede for the release of hundreds of political prisoners held in the Latin American country.

The meeting, which hadn’t been previously included in the list of Leo’s planned appointments, was later listed by the Vatican in its daily bulletin, without adding details.

Machado is touring Europe and the United States after she reemerged in December after 11 months in hiding to accept her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.

“Today I had the blessing and honor of being able to share with His Holiness and express our gratitude for his continued support of what is happening in our country,” Machado said in a statement following the meeting.

“I also conveyed to him the strength of the Venezuelan people who remain steadfast and in prayer for the freedom of Venezuela, and I asked him to intercede for all Venezuelans who remain kidnapped and disappeared,” she added.

Machado also held talks with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, who was Nuncio in Venezuela from 2009 to 2013.

Pope Leo has called for Venezuela to remain an independent country after U.S. forces captured former President Nicolás Maduro in his compound in Caracas and took him to New York to face federal charges of drug-trafficking.

Leo had said he was following the developments in Venezuela with “deep concern,” and urged the protection of human and civil rights in the Latin American country.

Venezuela’s opposition, backed by consecutive Republican and Democratic administrations in the U.S., had vowed for years to immediately replace Maduro with one of their own and restore democracy to the oil-rich country. But U.S. President Donald Trump delivered them a heavy blow by allowing Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, to assume control.

Meanwhile, most opposition leaders, including Machado, are in exile or prison.

After winning the 2025 Nobel Prize for Peace, Machado said she’d like to give it to or share with Trump.

Machado dedicated the prize to Trump, along with the people of Venezuela, shortly after it was announced. Trump has coveted and openly campaigned for winning the Nobel Prize himself since his return to office in January 2025.

The organization that oversees the Nobel Peace Prize — the Norwegian Nobel Institute — said, however, that once it’s announced, the prize can’t be revoked, transferred, or shared with others.

“The decision is final and stands for all time,” it said in a short statement last week.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Kelly filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to reverse Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s letter of censure and effort to potentially demote the retired Navy officer — sharply escalating a confrontation between the Arizona Democrat and President Donald Trump’s Pentagon chief over a controversial video reminding U.S. service members they can refuse illegal orders.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in D.C., Kelly’s lawyers argued that the Pentagon’s inquiry, and formal reprimand, unlawfully punished the senator for his speech and violated his due process.

“It appears that never in our nation’s history has the Executive Branch imposed military sanctions on a Member of Congress for engaging in disfavored political speech,” the lawsuit states.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last week, Hegseth sent a letter of censure to Kelly, criticizing what he called the senator’s “reckless misconduct” for joining five other Democratic lawmakers who had served in the U.S. military or intelligence community in filming a video that reminded service members of their duty to disobey illegal orders.

The lawmakers have said they filmed the video in response to some of the Trump administration’s legally controversial uses of the military, such as attacking alleged drug trafficking boats in Latin America and deploying troops to major American cities.

Hegseth also said the Pentagon was opening a proceeding into whether Kelly’s last military rank and his pension should be reduced.

The administrative punishment fell short of the Pentagon’s most aggressive option: recalling Kelly to active duty and charging him under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But Hegseth’s letter warned that criminal charges were possible if Kelly continued to “engage in conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline.”

The FBI also is involved in the matter.

Democrats, some Republicans, and many legal experts have criticized the inquiry as a specious attack on an outspoken critic of the Trump administration, who also oversees the Pentagon as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In a statement Monday, Kelly said Hegseth’s actions would saddle other veterans with the “constant threat that they could be deprived of their rank and pay years or even decades after they leave the military just because he or another Secretary of Defense doesn’t like what they’ve said.”

Kelly retired from the military in 2011 after serving 24 years on active duty. His career included flying fighter jets over Iraq during the Persian Gulf War and becoming an astronaut. He left the Navy several months after his wife, then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D., Ariz.), was shot in the head during a constituent event and survived.

The lawsuit filed Monday notes that Trump — and later Hegseth — publicly labeled Kelly’s remarks “seditious” even as the defense secretary directed a board of military officers to independently determine whether Kelly should face a reduction in rank. The public comments essentially denied Kelly any chance for fair treatment and due process, the lawyers argued.

More importantly, they said in the filing, the Pentagon’s unprecedented disciplinary action would undermine an equal branch of government — where criticism from the political party out of power is essential to how American democracy functions.

Kelly, as a retired service member drawing a military pension, has been Hegseth’s top target in response to the video, organized by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), a former CIA analyst and political appointee in the Obama administration.

The video also featured Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), a former Army Ranger; Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), a former Air Force officer; Chris Deluzio (Pa.), a former Navy officer; and Maggie Goodlander (N.H.), a Navy veteran. Goodlander is married to Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser under President Joe Biden.

Eugene Fidell, a senior research scholar and military law expert at Yale Law School, said that Trump’s and Hegseth’s statements made it almost impossible for Kelly to get a fair review by other military officers, and he expected Kelly would prevail in the case.

“The president is already on record calling Sen. Kelly a traitor; Secretary Hegseth has already shown he has prejudged this matter,” Fidell said. “I expect this will move quickly.”