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Richard Allen Grenell (born September 18, 1966) is an American diplomat, public official, and former public relations consultant who has served as special presidential envoy for special missions since 2025. In February 2025, Donald Trump announced his appointment as interim President of the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
A member of the Republican Party, he served as acting director of national intelligence (DNI) in 2020 under President Donald Trump, for which he is often cited as the first openly gay acting Cabinet-level official in U.S. history.Citations for First openly gay Cabinet member:
He previously served as the United States ambassador to Germany from 2018 to 2020, and as the Special Envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations from 2019 to 2021.
Grenell was a U.S. State Department spokesperson to the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration. Following his State Department tenure, he formed Capitol Media Partners, a political consultancy; he also was a Fox News contributor. Grenell was a foreign policy spokesperson for Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign.
In September 2017, Trump nominated Grenell as the U.S. ambassador to Germany. On April 26, 2018, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 56 to 42. Grenell presented his credentials to the president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on May 8, 2018. His tenure in Germany was controversial; he was described as politically and diplomatically isolated due to his association with the far right, and he was criticized as displaying a lack of professionalism.
Trump named Grenell acting director of national intelligence in February 2020; he relinquished the role in May 2020 upon the confirmation of John Ratcliffe to the post. Grenell expressed interest in running in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election, but on July 15, 2021 – the day before the filing deadline – he appeared on The Sean Hannity Show to announce that he would not run as a replacement candidate.
He received a bachelor's degree in government and public administration from Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. He received a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Grenell worked for Republican candidate Mitt Romney as a spokesperson (on foreign policy), during his 2012 presidential campaign, making him the first openly gay person in that role for a Republican presidential candidate.
Grenell was a signatory to a 2013 amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.
In 2016, Grenell's consulting firm accepted more than $100,000 from the Magyar Foundation of North America to provide public relations support for the Hungarian government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Grenell did not disclose this payment under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) prior to his work in the Trump administration.
During the 2016 Republican primaries, Grenell warned his Twitter followers about Donald Trump, describing him as "unserious", "reckless", and "dangerous". Grenell deleted all of his negative tweets about Trump after Trump became the Republican nominee. Grenell then began praising Trump regularly on Fox News and on Twitter.
Days after Grenell's appointment as DNI, CNN reported that his personal website had — until 2018 — touted consulting work he had done for clients in Iran, China, Kazakhstan, and other countries.
Grenell presented his credentials to the president of Germany on May 8, 2018. Within hours of taking office, Grenell offended German diplomats and business leaders when he tweeted that "German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately". The tweet was widely perceived as a threat, with the Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn, commenting that "This man was accredited as ambassador only yesterday. To give German businesses such orders (…) that is just not how you can treat your allies". The leader of Germany's Social Democratic Party said that Grenell "does appear to need some tutoring" in the "fine art of diplomacy", while the Left Party urged the Merkel government to summon Grenell to explain his comments.
Grenell stirred controversy in June 2018 by telling Breitbart News, "I absolutely want to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders". This comment was described as a breach of diplomatic protocol and a breach of Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which stipulates that ambassadors have a "duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State". Prominent German politicians called for Grenell's dismissal. Martin Schulz, former leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, said, "What this man is doing is unheard of in international diplomacy. If a German ambassador were to say in Washington that he is there to boost the Democrats, he would have been kicked out immediately."
Grenell was a regular contributor on Fox News's Tucker Carlson Tonight during the first few months of his ambassadorship in Germany. In November 2018, he appeared on the show and repeated his criticism of Angela Merkel's immigration policies. Grenell contrasted Merkel with the recently elected Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz, who (according to Grenell) "won in a very big way" because of his strict stance on immigration. The magazine Der Spiegel called these remarks a "thinly veiled call for a change of government in Berlin". Grenell's perceived interference in German politics drew criticism from several high-ranking German politicians. In March 2019, Wolfgang Kubicki, Vice President of the Bundestag and deputy chairman of the Free Democratic Party, charged Grenell with acting "like a high commissioner of an occupying power" and called for Grenell to be expelled from Germany.
In December 2018, during the furor surrounding Der Spiegel writer Claas Relotius, who it turned out had been fabricating stories for years, Grenell wrote to the magazine complaining about an anti-American institutional bias, and asked for an independent investigation. In January 2019, Grenell told Handelsblatt that European companies participating in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline are "always in danger, because sanctions are always possible". U.S. administrations had long opposed the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2, a pipeline for delivering natural gas from Russia to Germany. Grenell also threatened to sanction German companies involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2.
Der Spiegel published a profile of Grenell on January 11, 2019, using interviews with 30 “American and German diplomats, cabinet members, lawmakers, high-ranking officials, lobbyists and think tank experts". The magazine wrote that "almost all of these sources paint an unflattering portrait of the ambassador, one remarkably similar to Donald Trump, the man who sent him to Berlin. A majority of them describe Grenell as a vain, narcissistic person who dishes out aggressively, but can barely handle criticism." The profile claimed that Grenell was politically isolated in Berlin because of his alleged association with the far-right Alternative for Germany Party, causing the leaders of the mainstream German parties — including the Chancellor herself — to avoid contact with him; while Grenell had pressed German parliamentarians to invite him to their districts, most had declined. The sources claimed that Grenell knew little "about Germany and Europe, that he ignores most of the dossiers his colleagues at the embassy write for him, and that his knowledge of the subject matter is superficial".
In the fall of 2018, Grenell played a key diplomatic role in planning the arrest of Julian Assange by providing backchannel assurances to Ecuador that Assange would not face the death penalty in the United States. In February 2019, it was announced that Grenell was leading the Trump administration's newly formed effort to promote the decriminalization of homosexuality in nations in which homosexuality was illegal. In January 2020, Lev Parnas told The Daily Beast that he was told to ask Grenell for advance notice if the DOJ were to move to extradite indicted Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash. Among other actions as ambassador, Grenell pressured Germany to take a tougher stance against Iran and Hezbollah.
Following his appointment as Acting Director of National Intelligence, Grenell has said he would resign as ambassador once a full-time DNI was confirmed. On May 25, 2020, after John Ratcliffe was confirmed, Grenell confirmed he would resign as ambassador in the coming weeks. He formally resigned on June 1, 2020.
According to a report by NPR, Grenell pressured Kosovo prime minister Albin Kurti to accept a deal favorable to Serbia, including dropping tariffs and agreeing to land swaps, and publicly threatened to withdraw U.S. peacekeepers. The analysis says this contributed to Kurti's removal as prime minister, prompting popular protests from his anti-corruption supporters.
Grenell organized a new summit, located at the White House, for September 3 and 4, 2020. Grenell, along with his friend Robert C. O'Brien, cohosted the talks. On September 4, Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo prime minister Avdullah Hoti signed the Kosovo and Serbia economic agreements. The signing ceremony took place in the Oval Office at the White House in Trump's presence on September 4, 2020. In September 2020, Grenell traveled to Kosovo to receive the Presidential Medal of Merits from President Thaçi. His tenure ended with the end of the Trump presidency on January 20, 2021.
On February 20, 2020, Trump replaced Maguire as Acting Director of National Intelligence, appointing Grenell to the role. Maguire and his deputy, Andrew Hallman, resigned from the Office of the Director for National Intelligence (ODNI). Kash Patel — a National Security Council official and former aide to Congressman Devin Nunes — was named the next day as a senior advisor to Grenell.
As a temporary incumbent, Grenell was not subject to Senate confirmation. Although Trump indicated he would be appointing a new U.S. ambassador to Germany, Grenell kept this position while also serving in his new role, and Grenell indicated he did not expect to take the director of national intelligence job on a permanent basis.
On February 28, 2020, Trump announced the nomination of U.S. representative John Ratcliffe to the post of Director of National Intelligence. The nomination allowed Grenell to stay on as Acting Director pending Ratcliffe's confirmation. With Ratcliffe's confirmation and installation, Grenell's tenure as Acting Director ended on May 26, 2020.
In April 2020, Grenell said the administration was considering policies to reduce intelligence-sharing with countries that criminalize homosexuality. On April 29, 2020, he ordered each intelligence agency to review their policies on handling and sharing information on U.S. citizens.
On April 2 and 15, 2020, Grenell acted to declassify several footnotes in a report on FISA abuse released by DOJ inspector general Michael E. Horowitz. He also played a role in the release of 57 transcripts of Russia probe interviews by the House Intelligence Committee. On May 12, 2020, Grenell declassified the names of Obama administration officials who unmasked Michael Flynn. A subsequent Justice Department investigation of Obama administration unmasking concluded in October 2020 with no findings of substantive wrongdoing. On May 19, 2020, Grenell declassified an email that Obama's national security advisor Susan Rice sent to herself. On the day his tenure ended, Grenell declassified several documents related to the Russia probe.
A February 20, 2020, White House press release announcing the appointment of Grenell to the post of acting director of National Intelligence, stated that Grenell had "years of experience working with our Intelligence Community in a number of additional positions"; however, this assertion was disputed by others who asserted Grenell had little background in intelligence matters. Republican senator Susan Collins, one of four co-authors of the legislation creating the ODNI in 2004, said: "I care deeply about that position and believe the person needs experience in the intelligence community, which regrettably Ambassador Grenell does not have."
On the day his tenure began, it was reported that Grenell had not disclosed payments for advocacy work on behalf of Moldovan politician Vladimir Plahotniuc, who has been accused of stealing USD 1 billion from the Moldavan banking system between 2012 and 2014.
On March 10, 2020, Grenell declined to attend a congressional hearing on election security, "citing apprehension about his preparedness to address sensitive subjects that tend to upset the president."
Grenell stated in August 2020 that "President Trump is the most pro-gay president in American history. I can prove it." The Washington Post fact-checker gave his claim "Four Pinocchios" and described the claim as absurd. The fact-checker noted, "the only items Grenell can cite in support of his supposedly pro-gay record concern Grenell’s own temporary appointment and a policy announced by Grenell that Trump apparently knew little about... That’s pretty thin gruel on which to claim Trump is the most pro-gay president in history, especially when Trump has worked actively to undermine protections for the LGBT community that were enacted under Barack Obama."
On November 5, 2020, Grenell appeared as a speaker of the Trump campaign press conference in North Las Vegas, pushing the local effort to overturn the presidential election Donald Trump had lost and announcing a federal lawsuit against "illegal" votes. He made allegations of fraud, claiming that non-residents and people who were long dead had voted in Nevada and accusing the state of covering up these incidents. When asked by journalists to identify himself and present evidence backing up any of his claims, Grenell refused to answer the questions and told reporters: "You're here to take in information". All the post-election lawsuits related to Nevada were later either dropped or dismissed.
Grenell sought to build support for Trump's 2024 presidential campaign among Libertarian activists and donors.
Grenell's appointment was controversial at the university because of his "hard-right politics," his support for President Trump’s agenda, and his “apparent history of inflammatory statements." Kiron Skinner, the founding director of the Institute for Politics and Strategy, defended the hiring decision on the basis of academic freedom and diversity of thought. The university issued a report on Grenell's hiring, titled Report on the Appointment of Richard Grenell to the Carnegie Mellon University Institute for Politics and Strategy. The report found that Skinner had followed hiring mandates by consulting with the three deans of Dietrich College, the College of Engineering, and the School of Computer Science. They also found that there had been no other "senior fellow" in the institute's history, and that no other visiting scholars in the university's history had received the title of senior fellow. It also stated that "there are features of the hiring of Mr. Grenell which, to our knowledge, are unique in Carnegie Mellon’s experience, and for which Carnegie Mellon does not currently have policies. As such, the determination of whether appropriate policies and procedures were used cannot be answered." The report's conclusion also stated that "Prof. Skinner followed the small set of existing policies and procedures in place in the hiring of Richard Grenell, and he began his position on July 1."
On January 31, 2025, Grenell travelled to Caracas, to meet with Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro allegedly to discuss Trump's deportation strategy for accepting undocumented immigrants. The following day, on February 1, six American prisoners in Venezuela were released. Trump announced in an unverified post on Truth Social that this arrangement was in exchange for Venezuela accepting future Venezuelan deportees from the United States. Details on the detainees have not yet been released. On September 1, Maduro said that Grenell and the U.S. State Department were his two lines of communication with the Trump administration. In October 2025, the Miami Herald reported that the transition of power to Delcy Rodriguez, as relayed by Grenell, had been rejected by the State Department: "A hardline faction led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio prevailed, warning that any agreement short of regime change would betray democratic principles."
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Exclusive: Venezuelan leaders offered U.S. a path to stay in power without Maduro. By Antonio María Delgado
In February 2025, according to the Financial Times, Richard Grenell played a key role in securing the release of Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, two influencers prosecuted in Romania on charges of rape and human trafficking. He discussed the matter with Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu at the 61st Munich Security Conference. Grenell denied any pressure on the Romanian government.
Also in February 2025, the German tabloid Bild reported that Grenell was conducting secret negotiations with Russia in Switzerland to reopen the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Grenell denied any involvement.
In June 2013, Grenell revealed that he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and started chemotherapy. In September 2013, he announced that he was in remission.
| + !Country !Date !Honor !Ribbon ! | ||||
| 2020 | National Security Medal | |||
| 2020 | Presidential Medal of Merits | |||
| 2023 | Order of the Serbian Flag |
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