Former Ambassador Richard Grenell denied a report that said he planned to meet with former President Donald Trump to discuss a potential run for governor of California.
Grenell, who served as the acting director of national intelligence and the ambassador to Germany during the Trump administration, shot back at a report by Politico that asserted that he would sit down with the former president to discuss the possibility at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Saturday.
“Wrong. And you never even asked me to fact check. This isn’t remotely the reason we’re having dinner. @Politico makes stuff up,” he said in a tweet Saturday.
The report noted that neither Grenell nor a Trump spokesperson responded to requests for comment.
Wrong. And you never even asked me to fact check.
This isn’t remotely the reason we’re having dinner. @Politico makes stuff up. https://t.co/HHmliWZ0Ck
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 27, 2021
WHO COULD BE THE GOP PICK IF NEWSOM IS RECALLED? FOUR POTENTIAL CANDIDATES
The California native stoked speculation of a potential gubernatorial run during his remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday morning.
“If things get really bad with elected officials, there’s always the option to recall them. If you want the best case possible for a recall campaign, take a look at my home state of California. … In my three decades in American politics, I have never seen a better case for a recall than there is right now in California,” Grenell said while slamming Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Grenell then followed up the remarks with an interview with Fox News in which the first openly gay Cabinet-level official refused to rule out a gubernatorial run. When asked whether he would run for governor, Grenell said, “We’ve got to concentrate on the recall. We’re not there yet,” adding that Newsom “clearly is afraid” of the recall effort’s momentum.
After earning widespread criticism for the current condition of California, Newsom is faced with a recall petition that has amassed more than 1 million of the 1.5 million required signatures in order to force an election. Republicans have been lining up to take on the embattled governor, with the current front-runner for the GOP nomination, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, accusing Newsom of having created “an education equality gap that will haunt students their entire lives” on Wednesday.
The requisite 1.5 million verified signatures must be obtained by March 17 in order to force a recall election, which would be held in October.
A representative for the Institute for Politics and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon University, where Grenell currently serves as a senior fellow, did not immediately reply to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
