Trump appoints Grenell as special envoy to North Korea to shake Europe with the far-right withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal
The Trump administration has appointed Richard Grenell, former Director of National Intelligence (DNI), who was ‘dismissed and expelled’ from Germany as a far-right strategist who shook Europe by withdrawing from the ‘Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA)' during his first term, as special envoy to North Korea.
Former German Ambassador Grenell, who directly supported conservatism in Western European countries, said in an interview with the American conservative media Breitbart on June 2, 2018, “Ahead of Chancellor Kurz’s visit to Germany, who leads the coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party of Austria, I called him a ‘rock star.’”
“Ambassador Richard Grenell has angered many Germans in less than a month since he arrived in Berlin representing the United States,” the AP’s Berlin correspondent reported. “The first trigger was his tweet that German companies should stop doing business with Iran after Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal with Tehran, and the most recent was Grenell’s public statement over the weekend that he wanted to “empower European conservatives.”
On June 4, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that Germany’s rejection of the new U.S. ambassador was “getting used to the candid opinions of someone who has been appointed by President Trump,” but “opposition politicians in Germany have officially called for the ambassador’s dismissal.”
The German government’s response to this was the arrogance shown by the Israeli prime minister when he left Berlin after meeting with Merkel, and by the conservative Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz when he visited Germany to meet with Merkel, having lunch separately. In this election, the German Foreign Ministry announced in a briefing that the ambassador would use his visit on Wednesday (June 5) to “clarify” comments he made in a weekend interview with the Breitbart website, a conservative newspaper that led to Trump’s election victory.
When asked about Grenelle at a press conference in Germany on June 3, 2018, Prime Minister Netanyahu declined to comment, but appeared somewhat embarrassed, saying that Israel “respects the German government, its policies, and the policies of the chancellor.”
At the end of the press conference, Netanyahu said, “I will meet him briefly at the airport,” and “I will not attach any meaning to non-existence,” even though reporters did not ask questions, AP reported. His only diplomatic career was as a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations during the Republican George W. Bush administration, and he was a longtime commentator for the conservative, Republican-backed Fox News Channel, and while ambassador to Germany, he gave interviews to the conservative political outlet Breitbart, according to the Associated Press, which “declined multiple interview requests.”
Sahra Wagenknecht, the parliamentary leader of Germany’s opposition Left Party, formally called for Ambassador Grenelle’s resignation at the time. “Anyone who thinks they can say who rules Europe like a feudal lord, like Ambassador Richard Grenell, can no longer remain in Germany as a diplomat,” Wagenknecht told Die Welt. “If the government takes our democratic sovereignty seriously, Grenell should not be invited to a coffee party and a chat, but should be expelled immediately.”
President-elect Trump announced on the 14th that he had selected Richard Grenell, a special envoy for foreign policy, to help the incoming administration address its most difficult foreign policy issues. “Rick will work in some of the hottest places in the world, including Venezuela and North Korea,” he said in a statement to Truth Social.
At the Republican National Convention, Grenell echoed Trump’s call that “it is time to put America first” on the world stage, saying that China and Russia view President Joe Biden’s administration as weak. “He was in the room when Trump met with Ukrainian President Zelensky in September and has been arguing for a peace deal that would preserve Ukrainian territory while allowing Russia to maintain control of ‘autonomous regions,’” the AP reported on the 15th.
Regarding his Ukraine peace deal plan, the AP advised, “As Trump has done, he opposes expanding NATO to include Ukraine, saying that NATO should not grow until current members meet the alliance’s defense spending goals,” and “Transatlantic alliance members have pledged to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense for years, but some countries still fall short of that goal,” he said, describing it as a strategy of “pressuring NATO by increasing defense spending.”
The first Trump administration fostered the reinforcement of the military buildup for the 'sea of fire nuclear war' in 2017, CIA Director Pompeo started the 'North Korea-US summit' as a secret project and visited Pyongyang to meet Chairman Kim Jong-un, and after that, the Moon Jae-in administration became the 'driver' with the Berlin Declaration in July, and under the Pompeo Secretary of State administration, the strategy of 'capitalism for the North Korean people' was implemented while attempting to 'guarantee the maintenance of the Kim Jong-un regime with economic prosperity', which ended in the second Hanoi summit.
'Newsis' reported on the appointment of Grenell on the 15th with the headline, "Trump's Will to Actively Promote North Korea Policy, Likely to Lead North Korea-US Dialogue."
'Hankyoreh' reported on the 15th with the headline, "Trump's Special Envoy 'Supports Dialogue with North Korea's Kim Jong-un' Richard Grenell."
'Yonhap News' reported on the 15th with the headlines, "Trump Appoints Close Aide Grenell as Special Envoy for North Korea--Signal for Dialogue with Kim Jong-un" and "Trump's 'Diplomatic Troubleshooter' Grenell's Role in Attention--Will He Take the Lead in North Korea-US Dialogue?"