[ May 1, 2024 ]
A terrific piece of news. Brilliant choice.
I am pleased to announce that our highly respected Ambassador to Germany, @RichardGrenell, will become the Acting Director of National Intelligence. Rick has represented our Country exceedingly well and I look forward to working with him. I would like to thank Joe Maguire….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2020
Trump names outspoken ambassador Richard Grenell acting head of intelligence
Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, is a Trump loyalist with a history of stirring up trouble on Twitter.Story continues below advertisementBy Dareh Gregorian and Peter Alexander, NBC News, February 20, 2020:
President Donald Trump on Wednesday named Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, to be the next acting director of national intelligence.
The move was first reported by The New York Times and later confirmed by NBC News.
Grenell, an openly gay former Fox News commentator who is a vocal supporter of the president, would replace Joseph Maguire. Maguire has served as acting director since Dan Coats resigned in July.
The post is a Cabinet-level position — the Office of the Director of National Intelligence oversees the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies and is the president’s principal adviser on intelligence issues.
Trump has been critical of those agencies in the past, tweeting last year that “Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!” after Coats and the heads of the FBI and the CIA testified about worldwide threats before the Senate.
“He is committed to a non-political, non-partisan approach as head of the Intelligence Community, on which our safety and security depend,” said a statement from the White House released Thursday morning.
The move got swift pushback on social media. Samantha Power, who was President Barack Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations, said in a tweet, “Appointing as @ODNIgov @RichardGrenell, who has politicized every issue he has touched & has contempt for facts, would be a travesty.”
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Grenell has been a controversial figure in part because of his outspoken views on Twitter. He has come under fire for tweets targeting women, including Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Rachel Maddow and Callista Gingrich.
As ambassador to Germany, he has pushed Germany to increase its contributions to NATO, and he launched the administration’s global campaign to end the criminalization of homosexuality in dozens of nations where it’s illegal to be gay.
His hard-nosed style has sometimes raised eyebrows in Europe, as when he said in 2018 that he wanted to “empower” European conservatives who are “experiencing an awakening from the silent majority.”
“I think there is a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left,” he told Breitbart. “There’s no question about that, and it’s an exciting time for me.”
Grenell, who has a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University, was the longest-serving U.S. spokesman at the United Nations, where he served during President George W. Bush’s administration.
Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va, the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, criticized Grennell’s appointment in a statement.
“The President has selected an individual without any intelligence experience to serve as the leader of the nation’s intelligence community in an acting capacity,” he said. “This is the second acting director the President has named to the role since the resignation of Dan Coats, apparently in an effort to sidestep the Senate’s constitutional authority to advise and consent on such critical national security positions, and flouting the clear intent of Congress when it established the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in 2004. The intelligence community deserves stability and an experienced individual to lead them in a time of massive national and global security challenges.”
Image: Dareh Gregorian
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12 Comments
4 years ago
Maybe he can help get throught the corrupt logger jam of our delicate, pearl clutching A.G. Barr. He is in a bit of a snitt lately.
A Possible Inflection Point – ODNI Ric Grenell…
Posted on February 20, 2020 by sundance
…
The only corrective action taken by Bill Barr has been when a corrupt DOJ issue is so well known and unavoidable that covering up the issue is no longer an option (Liu). Despite requesting, and receiving, unprecedented executive authority to review all intelligence information and agencies (May 2019), no corrective action is visible; and, as noted in the example of the ICIG impeachment effort, the corrupt systems continue unabated.
There has been an IG report on FBI conduct showing evidence of DOJ/FBI politics in the Clinton investigation (Mid Year Exam). That report showcased members of the FBI taking gifts in exchange for media leaks; yet those leaks continue – nothing done.
There has been a scathing IG report on the action of Andrew McCabe highlighting instances of lies under oath to investigators; again – no consequences.
There has been an IG report on James Comey mishandling of classified information and illegal leaks to the media; again – nothing done. There was a separate break-out report on Comey’s creation and political use of his office and written memos stored in secret files in his home. As outlined during visits by FBI agents the FBI Director kept the memos hidden and never informed the investigators. Result: nothing done.
There has been an OIG report on FISA abuses, which overlaps all four prior DOJ-IG investigations since January 2017. That report showed the construction of specific false documentation to achieve a political agenda and illegal surveillance warrants by lawyers within the FBI…. The result, the OIG says with straight face they cannot determine if political bias was part of the motivation or decision-making; ergo, nothing done. [Yet]
It does not seem accidental executive leaders at the DOJ and FBI claim no evidence of political bias exists, while simultaneously the DOJ, FBI and IC refuse to unredact, declassify or release documents where evidence of political bias would exist.
The Office of the President has been under investigative assault for more than three years from the same highly political agencies hiding evidence of their bias. The same institutions accusing the President of abusing power, are the exact same institutions abusing power.
Worse still, the OIG FISA report is a great example of AG Barr reviewing in advance information within a report; and yet the report itself is fraught with contradictions, irreconcilable claims, examples of non-corrected abuses and was even modified after publication to remove evidence damaging to the institutions and participants.
With all of this in mind it is no surprise to see President Trump tweeting a little frustration when contrast against another blind Attorney General praising current DOJ and FBI officials; who have done nothing, except talk, while stacks of IG reports containing evidence of corruption -from 3 years of investigation- sits on office shelves gathering dust.
…
MUCH MORE HERE:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/02/20/a-possible-inflection-point-odni-ric-grenell/#more-184122
4 years ago
Reply to
felix1999
Many had high hopes that AG Barr was the real deal, and would kick serious butt in defense of Trump and his administration. Now, maybe it’s starting to look that Barr may be another misbegotten appointment by the President.
Trump of course IS a genuine Patriot, but people do wonder why so many of his failed cabinet picks lacked his passionate love for the United States of America. On whose advice did/does he hire those dubious loyalists? What’s going on with that? It’s all very puzzling.
Maybe AG Barr will turn out to be a brilliant appointment after all. We can only wait and see. . . a bit longer.
4 years ago
Reply to
Don T
We need to consider the position Barr has been put in, before giving up on him. The people he has to deal with were and are powerful enough to challenge a president. They are also protected by civil service laws and protections.
The people Barr has to work with to sort this mess out are part of the same organizations whose leaders he is trying to investigate and are subject to adverse personnel actions by those leaders. He has to sort through all the 2d and 3d level supervisors to determine who he can trust and who is loyal to the Deep State. I believe he cannot even terminate or discipline the Deep State loyalists without formal action under civil service laws. He has an almost impossible job and there are no easy or quick answers to his dilemma. My impression is that he’s serious about getting these agencies cleaned up and we need to support him.
4 years ago
Trump wants a strong America & strong sovereign nations.
But for that to work we need a global government with English (US) as official global language & ethical values that put health first.
Then America will be strong & other nations as well & we will grow together.
& we must be clear about Muhammadist tyrannies: no more arming Muhammadist tyrannies & no more censorship protecting the unjust Muhammadist dogma, see Wikiislam.net.
4 years ago
Could care less whether this new Ambassador is gay, white, black, Jew, or anything else, JUST AS LONG AS HE SUPPORTS PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA(NS).
HEAR THAT, DEMONRATS?
4 years ago
Reply to
TomSJr
Since the same ‘demonrats’ and ‘journolists’ are peeing in their pants, whining and barking, it’s probably a good to excellent choice on DJT’s part.
4 years ago
As with every move Trump makes, there was criticism of his decision to name Grenell acting director of intel, citing his lack of experience in that area.
However, he has one redeeming quality, he replaces a member of the swamp.
4 years ago
There’s a reason Trump doesn’t speak out against Drag Queen Story Hours, or the ongoing war on children that includes chemically castrating them with drugs used to ‘change’ their gender, or males using female restrooms and locker rooms in businesses and schools, or males who say they are female who are pushing female athletes out of their own competitions. He supports the LGBT efforts in all their depravity.
“Richard Grenell: Openly homosexual.
Grenell lives with his partner, Matt Lashley, who is a consumer insights expert and entertainment executive. He is a foreign affairs expert who worked on Mitt Romney‘s 2012 campaign.
President George W. Bush chose him as his Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy for the UN Ambassador.
“Grenell is the founding partner of Capitol Media Matters, a strategic communications firm with offices in Washington, DC, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In addition to being a communications adviser for politicians, he’s also worked with Fortune 500 companies. His clients are international, as he’s done business in Somalia, China, Australia and throughout Europe.” – Heavy.com
Richard Grenell on President Trump: “No other Republican Presidential nominee in history has embraced the LGBT community in such a loud and proud way. And yet, the moment was barely reported by the media despite the fact it happened in front of the traveling press corps accompanying Mr. Trump. Political reporters, not unsurprising, largely failed to write on the moment where a Republican challenged their negative media stereotype.”
