The Senate on Thursday confirmed President Trump’s long-stalled nominee to serve as ambassador to Germany.
Richard Grenell was approved in a 56-42 vote after pressure from President Trump and conservatives to clear him ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s arrival on Friday.
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Trump selected Grenell for the job in September, but his nomination languished, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blamed opposition from Democrats. They opposed Grenell over tweets critical of women, including Hillary Clinton, who Grenell once tweeted was “starting to look like Madeleine Albright.”
Democrats also accused Grenell, a gay conservative and close political ally of Trump’s, of dismissing the investigation into whether Russia is a threat to U.S. democracy.
In March, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., blocked an attempt by McConnell to bring Grenell’s nomination to the floor.
“I cannot in good faith support a nominee who has a lengthy track record of tweets attacking both prominent Democratic and prominent Republican women,” Merkley said.
Democrats on Thursday argued again that Grenell’s tweets disqualify him, citing a tweet Grenell posted after winning committee approval.
Grenell had retweeted a WikiLeaks tweet which included documents stolen by the Russians, said Senate Foreign Affairs ranking member Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
“These are not the actions of a person with anything close to good judgment,” Menendez said. “These are not the actions of a diplomat.”
Conservatives in recent weeks had become increasingly impatient and urged McConnell to bring up the nomination over the objections of Democrats, which would potentially require days of debate. Grenell also chimed in, and complained to President Trump about the delay at a Mar-a-Lago meeting last week.
Trump tweeted earlier this week,”The Dems will not approve hundreds of good people, including the Ambassador to Germany. They are maxing out the time on approval process for all, never happened before. Need more Republicans!”
After that, McConnell scheduled a vote to override to Democratic opposition and clear Grenell for the job.
The vote came soon after the Senate confirmed Grenell’s boss, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a 57-42 vote.
