Appeal for Grenell at U.N. Broadens as President of Sheldon Adelson-Backed Pro-Israel Group Endorses Potential Nomination
The appeal of U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell being potentially selected by President Donald Trump as his next ambassador to the United Nations is broadening beyond his core base supporters, with a key endorsement from Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) president Mort Klein.
Klein, the president of the billionaire Sheldon Adelson-backed pro-Israel group ZOA, wholeheartedly endorsed the idea of President Trump nominating Grenell to the U.N. post in a Breitbart News Daily exclusive interview on Monday morning, saying there is simply no other candidate as qualified as the president’s top diplomat in Europe.
“We’ve come out publicly endorsing him,” Klein said. “But first of all, he’s smart, eloquent, and resourceful. He knows how to get things done in the interest of America. He understands national security having worked for Ambassador John Bolton for many years at the U.N. He’s been at the U.N., I think, for–he spent eight years of his career at the U.N. So he knows it backwards and forwards.”
While Trump’s base is firmly behind Grenell as the potential successor to Nikki Haley now that former State Department spokeswoman and former Fox News host Heather Nauert suddenly withdrew her candidacy over the weekend, hearing voices like Klein’s and also those of key members of Congress like Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) step forward and endorse Grenell provides him even broader support than he had in the immediate aftermath of Nauert’s withdrawal. In other words, other candidates may divide Trump’s base over their views on various issues or connections to controversial figures, but Grenell seems to unite all factions.
Klein is correct that Grenell spent eight years as the United States spokesman at the United Nations, including when President Trump’s now National Security Adviser John Bolton–then U.N. ambassador–was ambassador. But he served several other U.N. ambassadors as well.
Grenell’s confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate last year was one of the most bipartisan votes any of Trump’s nominees has seen, winning 56 votes on final confirmation. He won support from all of the chamber’s then-50 Republicans as the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was not voting in addition to support from six Senate Democrats. Now, there are 53 Senate Republicans–all of whom would likely vote for Grenell’s confirmation in the United Nations post were Trump to nominate him–and three of those Senate Democrats who voted for him previously, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Doug Jones (D-AL), remain in the chamber so they would likely vote for him again. That would put Grenell on par to an easy path to confirmation, a path that does not exist so clearly for other potential names being considered for the post.
Other names in consideration include President Trump’s former Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell, former Michigan U.S. Senate candidate John James, and U.S. ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft. Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs first reported these names, but Breitbart News has since confirmed them:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/02/18/appeal-for-grenell-at-u-n-broadens-as-president-of-sheldon-adelson-backed-pro-israel-group-endorses-potential-nomination/