The former US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, is to become envoy for special missions for US President-elect Donald Trump. “Ric will be working on some of the hottest hot spots in the world, including Venezuela and North Korea,” Trump wrote on the online platform Truth Social, which he co-founded. “Ric will continue to fight for peace through strength” and will always put America first, said Trump.
During his time in Berlin, where Trump sent him in his first term as president in 2018, Grenell did not shy away from criticizing the then CDU Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany. The main issue was Germany’s financial contribution to the NATO defense alliance. Even after that, the now 58-year-old continued to deal against Germany. When the Foreign Office took aim at a statement made by Trump from a TV duel during the election campaign on Platform X, Grenell called the post election influence.
The Trump loyalist had previously been considered a possible foreign minister. But the nomination went to Marco Rubio, a senator from Florida.
Further personnel: Truth Social CEO heads the secret service advisory board
Trump announced another new appointment on Saturday: Truth Social boss Devin Nunes will take over as chairman of the president’s future intelligence advisory board. Trump announced on the platform that he would keep his position at Truth Social. Before Nunes got the role at the media company in 2022, he sat as a Republican member of the US House of Representatives and was already an avid supporter of Trump during this time.
As chairman of the Intelligence Committee in the US House of Representatives, Nunes was involved in wiretapping allegations against the FBI and other intelligence agencies during Trump’s first term in the 2016 election campaign. Trump wrote that Nunes would use his experience as a former chairman of the Intelligence Committee to provide him with independent assessments of the effectiveness and adequacy of U.S. intelligence community activities.
