After Donald Trump announced late yesterday that Ambassador Richard Grenell would take over as the acting director of National Intelligence, the Washington Post‘s Glenn Kessler joked, “Well, they must be doing cartwheels in Berlin.”
He had a point. After the president named Grenell to serve as U.S. ambassador to Germany, the first-time diplomat, perhaps best known as an internet troll, quickly irritated our allies in Berlin. Some German officials spoke publicly about the possibility of asking him to leave the country.
But before anyone in Berlin celebrates Grenell’s departure, this tidbit from a New York Times report stood out for me.
Mr. Grenell is expected to keep his current ambassadorship as long as he is acting intelligence director, one administration official said.
Really? One unqualified person will oversee the U.S. intelligence community and remain the ambassador to Europe’s largest country at the same time?
What’s more, let’s also not forget that the White House tapped Grenell five months ago to serve as the U.S. envoy for Kosovo-Serbia diplomacy.
I guess my question is, as of right now, exactly how many jobs does Ric Grenell have? Update: When a reporter asked the State Department today about Grenell having more than one job, it referred questions to the White House. Now I’m all the more curious if anyone knows how many positions he currently holds. Second Update: Politico reported this morning, “In Berlin, officials were jubilant at the news of Grenell’s new job. And then they found out he’d still remain as ambassador.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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