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| - In January 2026, as tensions heightened over U.S. President Donald Trump administration's desire to
For example, X user Harry Sisson, a Democratic social media influencer, shared a screenshot (archived) of another user's X post featuring text of Trump's alleged message to Gahr Støre. Sisson wrote:
This is insane. Trump just wrote a letter to the prime minister of Norway essentially saying "you didn't give me the Nobel Peace Prize so I'm choosing to invade Greenland because of it." This is INSANE. It's about to get a lot worse.
The screenshot showed an X post by Nick Shifrin, a foreign affairs and defense correspondent at PBS News. In his post, Shifrin wrote (archived):
NEW: @potus letter to @jonasgahrstore links @NobelPrize to Greenland, reiterates threats, and is forwarded by the NSC staff to multiple European ambassadors in Washington. I obtained the text from multiple officials
Shifrin then transcribed the message Trump allegedly sent Gahr Støre:
Dear Ambassador:
President Trump has asked that the following message, shared with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, be forwarded to your [named head of government/state]
"Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a "right of ownership" anyway? There are no written documents, it's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT"
Trump's alleged message also circulated on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived). Snopes readers contacted us asking if the U.S. president really penned the message to the Norwegian prime minister.
In short, spokespeople for both the Norwegian government and the Trump administration confirmed that Trump authentically sent to Gahr Støre the message Shifrin transcribed in his X post. Therefore, we have rated this claim true.
A spokesperson for the Norwegian Prime Minister's Office said via email that what Shifrin wrote in his X post was a correct transcription of a message Trump actually sent to Gahr Støre. On Jan. 19, 2026, the Norwegian government published a statement attributed to Gahr Støre on its website, reading:
I can confirm that this is a text message that I received yesterday afternoon from President Trump. It came in response to a short text message from me to President Trump sent earlier on the same day, on behalf of myself and the President of Finland Alexander Stubb.
A White House spokesperson also confirmed via email that Trump sent the message to the Norwegian prime minister and that Shifrin's reported wording was correct.
According to a spokesperson for the Embassy of Denmark in the U.S., the Danish embassy also received the same message that Shifrin reported.
Snopes contacted several European embassies in Washington, D.C., to confirm Shifrin's claim that they also received the message. We await replies to our queries.
Trump-Gahr Støre text exchange
According to a spokesperson for the Norwegian Prime Minister's Office, Gahr Støre sent a text message to Trump on Jan. 18 at 3:48 p.m. Oslo time (9:48 a.m. in Washington D.C.) regarding Trump's Jan. 17 announcement (archived) that he would impose tariffs on European countries, including Norway, that send troops to Greenland. According to the spokesperson, Gahr Støre wrote:
Dear Mr President, dear Donald - on the contact across the Atlantic - on Greenland, Gaza, Ukraine - and your tariff announcement yesterday. You know our position on these issues. But we believe we all should work to take this down and de-escalate - so much is happening around us where we need to stand together. We are proposing a call with you later today - with both of us or separately - give us a hint of what you prefer! Best - Alex and Jonas
Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a "right of ownership" anyway? There are no written documents, it's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT
It was not clear what, if anything, Gahr Støre said in response to Trump's message. In his Jan. 19, statement, the Norwegian prime minister wrote:
Norway's position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter. We also support that NATO in a responsible way is taking steps to strengthen security and stability in the Arctic. As regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have clearly explained, including to president Trump what is well known, the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government.
According to the Nobel Peace Prize website, the Norwegian Parliament elects the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee who award the Nobel Peace Prize.
In October 2025, the committee awarded the coveted prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. In January 2026, after the Trump administration seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid, Machado visited Trump in the White House and gave him her prize. A White House official reportedly told Reuters news agency that the president intended to keep the gift.
On Jan. 18, the Nobel Foundation said in a statement on its website that prizes could not be transferred "even symbolically."
For further reading, Snopes previously investigated a claim that Trump ended seven wars.
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