New Trump foreign affairs pick has history of forging ties with right-wing authoritarians
Richard Grenell, named by Donald Trump over the weekend to serve as presidential envoy for special missions, is a veteran of the first administration who has earned the president-elect’s trust by amplifying his election denialism while forging close ties, both in and out of office, with right-wing authoritarians and populists.
A former spokesperson for U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations in the early 2000s, Grenell’s government experience reaches back to the neoconservative era of President George W. Bush. But his combative style and unstinting loyalty equipped Grenell to quickly align with Trump’s brand of America First nationalism and cycle through the positions of ambassador to Germany, acting director of national intelligence and special envoy for Serbia-Kosovo relations during the first administration.
Although the position is less powerful than the secretary of state post reportedly sought by Grenell, his loyalty to Trump and history of working with the president-elect potentially gives him outsized influence in implementing the incoming administration's foreign policy.
Trump’s announcement did not make clear whether he has any particular missions or regions of the world in mind, but the statement pledged: “Ric will continue to fight for Peace Through Strength, and always put AMERICA FIRST.”
Grenell responded to the announcement on X, writing: “Working on behalf of the American people for @realDonaldTrump is an honor of a lifetime. President Trump is a problem solver who keeps Americans safe.”
While serving as ambassador to Germany, Grenell caused a diplomatic stir by expressing a desire to “empower other conservatives throughout Europe” in an interview with the right-wing outlet Breitbart. Grenell also praised Sebastian Kurz, who was elected chancellor of Austria in 2017 after campaigning on an anti-immigration platform, as a “rockstar” while declaring himself “a big fan.”
The comments struck a nerve in Germany, which polices far-right political activity due to its history of Nazism in the 1930s and 1940s.
“It’s somewhat like the colony’s new master has arrived to take up his post,” a left-wing lawmaker told the public broadcaster ZDF. “No government can allow itself to be treated like that.” Meanwhile, the German Foreign Ministry asked Grenell for a clarification of his comments, according to Der Spiegel.
The incident also prompted rebuke from Democratic lawmakers in the United States.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, admonished that “if Ambassador Grenell is unwilling to refrain from political statements, he should be recalled immediately,” while Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said that “ambassadors aren’t supposed to ‘empower’ any political party overseas.”
Grenell refused to back down. In response to the criticism, NPR reported in 2018 that Grenell tweeted: “The idea that I’d endorse candidates/parties is ridiculous. I stand by my comments that we are experiencing an awakening from the silent majority — those who reject the elites & their bubble. Led by Trump.”
Since then, the tweet appears to have been deleted.
Grenell could not be reached for this story, and Trump transition did not respond to a list of written questions before publication.
During his tenure as ambassador, Grenell reportedly antagonized his German hosts by lobbying German companies against working with Iran, threatening to withdraw U.S. troops to pressure Germany to increase defense spending, and threatening the country with sanctions over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia.
While Grenell was serving as ambassador to Germany, Trump appointed him to simultaneously fill the position of acting director of national intelligence, until the post was permanently filled by John Ratcliffe in May 2020. Trump has recently nominated Ratcliffe to serve as director of the CIA in his incoming administration.
Grenell stepped down as ambassador to Germany in June 2020, but continued to serve as special envoy for Serbia-Kosovo relations through the end of Trump’s first term.
It was near the end of Trump’s first term that Grenell traveled to Las Vegas as part of what appears to be an orchestrated campaign to cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 election. During a press conference in Las Vegas, with Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, Grenell reportedly claimed without evidence that non-residents and people who were dead had voted in the election. An MSNBC reporter chased Grenell down and pressed him to present evidence of fraud or that observers had been prevented from monitoring the vote count. Grenell deflected the reporter’s questions and then ducked into a van and left.
As with other lawsuits filed in battleground states to overturn the 2020 election, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld a finding that the Trump campaign failed to back up claims of mass voter fraud that would have changed the outcome of the election.
At the time of the press conference, Grenell knew that, in fact, the election had not been stolen, the New York Times reported earlier this year, based on interviews with two G.O.P. operatives. The operatives, who spoke on condition of anonymity, reportedly told the Times that Grenell told them the goal was to “throw spaghetti at the wall” as a distraction to prevent the media from calling Nevada while the results in neighboring Arizona remained in play.
Grenell’s involvement in foreign affairs did not begin or end with his government service in the diplomatic service during Trump’s first term.
During the Obama administration, Grenell and his business partner at Capitol Media Partners reportedly courted an Iranian dissident named Alireza Jafarzadeh on a plan to “help influence change for Iran” among elected officials and “other key audiences.” It’s not clear whether Grenell wound up doing any work for Jarfarzadeh, according to the Times. But around the same time Mujahedeen Khalq, or M.E.K., an Iranian resistance group represented by Jafarzadeh, successfully lobbied to be removed from the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.
In 2016, the year Trump was first elected president, Grenell’s company reportedly received $103,750 from a foundation funded, in part, by the government of Viktor Orbán, the far-right authoritarian president of Hungary. Grenell served as a media relations consultant for the foundation, according to a statement from its lawyer, to help get coverage of the foundation’s academic, cultural and fine arts programs.
Since Grenell’s departure from government service with the conclusion of the first administration, he has remained enmeshed with Trump and his family in ways that go beyond constant effusions of praise.
Following his efforts as special envoy to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo, Grenell and Jared Kushner, the president-elect’s son-in-law, are reportedly pursuing a $500 million hotel project on the site of the Yugoslav Ministry of Defense that was obliterated by bombing carried out by NATO forces in 1999. Financing for the project, according to the Times, would come from Affinity Partners, a $3 billion investment fund led by Kushner that is backed by the sovereign wealth of Saudi Arabia.
In November 2021, Trump praised Grenell, while describing him as “my Envoy,” following a visit by Grenell to the Kosovo-Servia border. At the time, neither man was in office, and Trump had not yet even announced his plan to run for president again.
While it’s not clear whether Trump was involved or not, Grenell traveled to Guatemala earlier this year during a fraught transfer of power reminiscent of the 2020 election in the United States. As Grenell chronicled on his Instagram page, he met with outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei, whom he praised as “a great U.S. ally,” three days before the inauguration of the new president, a left-wing anti-corruption crusader named Bernardo Arévalo.
Arévalo had been recognized by the Biden administrator as the legitimate winner of the August 2023 election, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken publicly expressed concern about “anti-democratic behavior” by the ruling party, “including efforts by the Public Ministry and other actors to suspend the President-elect’s political party and intimidate election authorities.”
Grenell’s name was mentioned during the 2024 campaign as a top pick for secretary of state, although Trump ultimately passed him over in favor of Marco Rubio, the former senator from Florida. Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s son, reportedly told Grenell during an online chat in February 2024 that he was a “top contender” for the position, adding, “Your name comes up in some very high levels. You’re in there with the base.”
Supporters teed up an influence campaign to help Grenell secure the secretary of state spot following the 2024 election, with Politico reporting that a Republican operative approached conservative influencers offering payments in exchange for positive posts about Grenell on X and Instagram. According to a contract reviewed by Politico, in exchange for payments in multiple installments, influencers would be expected to “engage in their comment section, quote tweet, share, add to stories and reply in relevant threads and posts.”
Taylor Strand, owner of the political consulting firm lined up to make the payments, told Politico that the “project never moved forward, and Ric Grenell nor any other MAGA leaders were involved.”
Although Grenell was passed over for the top job, his appointment as presidential envoy likely positions him to help enforce Trump’s will at the State Department under Rubio’s more conventional leadership.
Mike Davis, a pro-Trump lawyer who helped mobilize support for Trump’s Supreme Court picks during the first administration, described Grenell in an X post as “fiercely loyal” while predicting that “Ric will ensure the State Department is carrying out the President’s policy agenda.”
The incoming envoy was described by an anonymous account under the name “IT Guy,” which Grenell re-posted, as “Trump’s fireman to deal with whatever may be erupting around the world.”
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