Who is Richard Grenell?
Who is Richard Grenell? The current U.S. ambassador to Germany is the new acting director of national intelligence.
Richard Grenell will not be returning to his role as the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Fox News confirmed Sunday.
Grenell, who was nominated in September 2017 to be U.S. ambassador to Germany, was called back to Washington earlier this year to serve as acting Director of National Intelligence to replace Joseph Maguire, who was also serving in a temporary role as head of U.S. intelligence.
Grenell’s time as acting DNI was coming to an end as the Senate voted last week to confirm Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, to become the permanent head of U.S. intelligence despite numerous objections from Democrats that he was appointed less for his experience and more for his loyalty to President Trump.
SENATE CONFIRMS RATCLIFFE AS NEXT DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
It was reported back in March that Grenell had informed the White House that he did not wish to return to Berlin following his stint as acting DNI.
German news outlet Die Welt was the first to report Grenell’s departure.
During his short stint as acting DNI, Grenell made a number of big moves, including declassifying information about Obama administration officials who were behind the “unmasking” of Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
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The move drew sharp criticism from Democrats, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California who sent a letter to Grenell blasting him for selectively declassifying the names of several Obama administration officials who “acted appropriately” to seek the identity of a U.S. person in intelligence reports — who turned out to be Flynn — while failing to also declassify the transcript of conversations Flynn had with the Russian ambassador that prompted their national security concerns.
Schiff said Grenell’s selective declassification of the list of Obama administration officials is “without precedent” and “corrupt.”
Grenell confirmed he’s working to declassify more information on Flynn’s case that’s under his jurisdiction – “The public deserves to see it,” he tweeted – an hit back against Democrats on Twitter – accusing them of trying to hide intelligence that didn’t fit their agenda. He tweeted: “Transparency is now a must!”
Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Eric Shawn contributed to this report.
