Donald Trump’s closest associates appear to be throwing each other under the bus. The Alex Pretti issue sparked a subtle feud between Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears to be throwing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt under the bus. Last week, Trump was accused of another major blunder for confusing Greenland and Iceland multiple times during a speech addressing world leaders.
Leavitt denied the incident, but Rubio appeared to acknowledge that Trump did indeed make a gaffe that day. His statement directly contradicted the one made by the White House press secretary. The secretary of state admitted that the president mixed up Greenland and Iceland while speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Sen Kaine asked Rubio on Trump repeatedly calling Greenland “Iceland” at Davos
Rubio admits he misspoke but defends it as verbal stumbles “some made a lot more than this one”
Sen responds with two words “Nice try”
Sec testifies no US military force will 🅱️e used in Greenland pic.twitter.com/IqXtIaBBoU
— Boi Agent One (@boiagentone) January 28, 2026
During his speech, the 79-year-old POTUS said, “I’m helping NATO, and until the last few days when I told them about Iceland, they loved me.” He was talking about his repeated threat to take over Greenland, which is an autonomous Danish territory.
As he talked about the negotiations with Denmark and Greenland, he mistakenly mentioned Iceland a few more times. “They’re not there for us in Iceland, that I can tell you. Our stock market took its first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So, Iceland has already cost us a lot of money,” said the POTUS.
Social media users were quick to point out his blunder. Libbey Dean, the White House Correspondent for NewsNation, wrote, “During his @wef remarks, President Trump appeared to mix up Greenland and Iceland around three times.”
However, Karoline Leavitt quickly came to Donald Trump’s rescue. Taking to her X (formerly Twitter), the White House Press Secretary wrote, “No, he didn’t, Libby.” She seemingly intentionally misspelt the journalist’s name.
No he didn’t, Libby. His written remarks referred to Greenland as a “piece of ice” because that’s what it is.
You’re the only one mixing anything up here. https://t.co/awRQO3eN3Y pic.twitter.com/pkAQysW06h
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 21, 2026
His written remarks referred to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice’ because that’s what it is. You’re the only one mixing anything up here,” Leavitt added. However, Marco Rubio only stirred things up when he was questioned about the incident by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia.
“Yeah, he meant to say Greenland,” admitted Rubio. However, he also defended the POTUS, saying that the previous presidents have made a “lot more” mistakes. “But I think we’re all familiar with presidents who have verbal stumbles. We’ve had presidents like that before. Some made a lot more than this one,” the Secretary of State said.
“Nice try,” Kaine fired back at Rubio. Meanwhile, Trump’s constant threat to take over Greenland has caused a rift between MAGA and Europe’s far-right.
