トランプ氏が「プエルトリコとグリーンランド交換」提案　米高官明かす

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】ドナルド・トランプ米大統領は米自治領プエルトリコを汚く貧しいと評し、売却かデンマーク領グリーンランドとの交換を希望した──トランプ政権の元高官が19日、米テレビでこんな逸話を明かした。（写真は2017年にプエルトリコを訪問したトランプ大統領）
　国土安全保障省の首席補佐官だったマイルズ・テイラー氏は、ニュース専門局ＭＳＮＢＣの番組で、プエルトリコが２０１７年に２度の大型ハリケーンに見舞われ米政府が支援活動を行った際のことだと説明した。
　それまでにもグリーンランドの取得について繰り返し発言していたトランプ氏は２０１８年、米当局者のプエルトリコ訪問直前に、プエルトリコとグリーンランドの交換を真剣に提案したという。
　「彼（トランプ氏）はわれわれに、グリーンランドを購入したいと言っただけでなく、実は、プエルトリコを売却できるか知りたい、グリーンランドとプエルトリコを交換できないか、と言った。その理由は、彼の言葉を借りるなら、プエルトリコは汚くて人々が貧しいからだそうだ」とテイラー氏は語った。冗談とは思えなかったという。
　テイラー氏は「米大統領が、自国の領土を米国民から取り上げて外国と交換したがったという事実は、苦々しいどころではなかった」と述べた。
　トランプ氏は２０１９年、グリーンランド購入の提案をデンマークのメッテ・フレデリクセン首相に「ばかげている」と一蹴され、デンマーク訪問を取りやめている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/08/21-13:19）

President Donald Trump wanted to sell Puerto Rico or swap it for Greenland because he viewed the US territory as dirty and poor, a former senior administration official said Wednesday.
Miles Taylor, who was chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, said Trump expressed those views as the government undertook support operations after two massive hurricanes ravaged the Caribbean island in 2017.
Taylor told MSNBC that just before one 2018 trip by officials, Trump, who had regularly talked about acquiring Greenland from Denmark, seriously suggested he could trade away Puerto Rico.
He told us, not only did he want to purchase Greenland, he actually said he wanted to see if we could sell Puerto Rico, could we swap Puerto Rico for Greenland, because in his words, Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor, Taylor said.
The former official said he did not take Trump's remarks as a joke.
These are Americans. We don't talk about our fellow Americans that way, Taylor added.
And the fact that the president of the United States wanted to take a US territory of Americans and swap it for a foreign country is beyond galling.
Trump has long expressed disdain for the island of some three million people, many of whom live on the US mainland -- especially in Florida and Trump's native New York -- due to the deeply depressed economy at home.
The president expressed deep animus towards the Puerto Rican people behind the scenes, Taylor, who left DHS in 2019 and came out as a supporter of Democrat Joe Biden this week, told MSNBC.
He is their president. He should be standing by them, not trying to sell them off to a foreign country.
In 2019 Trump canceled a visit to Denmark after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rejected his proposal to buy Greenland as absurd, though at the time there was no mention of Puerto Rico as part of the suggested deal.
On Tuesday Trump dismissed Taylor on Twitter as a former disgruntled employee who is said to be a 'real stiff.'