Report: Trump to Nominate Richard Grenell for Ambassador to NATO

Richard Grenell
AP/Richard Drew

According to an unidentified White House official who spoke to Bloomberg News, President Trump will nominate Richard Grenell to serve as the United States ambassador to NATO.

Grenell (pictured above, left) has declined to comment on the story and has not mentioned any such nomination on social media, where he is very active. A White House official contacted by the Washington Examiner also could not confirm the nomination.

Bloomberg notes that if Grenell gets the job, he will become “the highest-ranking openly gay person to serve in the administration.” He has spoken very favorably of Trump’s “continued support for gay equality.”

He would also come to NATO as a strong supporter of Trump’s calls for reforming the organization, as Bloomberg summarizes:

In 2014, Grenell said on Fox that Congress should push for Ukraine to join NATO, a move that would infuriate Russia. He later praised Trump for threatening to walk away from NATO, calling it a smart negotiating tactic.

“I think this is about NATO reform, I don’t think this is about getting rid of a NATO alliance,” Grenell said on Fox last year. “I think this is businessman Donald Trump showing that he knows how to reform.”

Grenell was previously considered for the position of UN ambassador. He has been the longest-serving spokesman for U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations, including frequent Breitbart News Daily guest John Bolton.

He was also a foreign policy spokesman for the 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, resigning his position due to what he called a “hyperpartisan discussion of personal issues,” which have been described as including his sexuality, his position in favor of gay marriage, and some allegedly off-color Tweets. Grenell stressed that he was leaving of his own accord to avoid becoming a distraction from the Romney campaign, which wanted him to remain, by all indications.

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