Richard Grenell, the highest-ranking out gay official in the first Donald Trump administration, campaigned hard to be secretary of State in the second but didn’t make the cut.
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Several Trump-supporting social media influencers posted their endorsement of Grenell for the position shortly after the election, and there was even a plan for a paid social media campaign, which didn’t happen and which Grenell has denied any knowledge of, Politicoreports.
“An associate of Grenell had approached conservative social media influencers, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, offering paid contracts of as much as five figures to post favorably about Grenell,” Politico explains. It “illustrates the lengths to which people close to Grenell went to ensure he got the job,” the publication notes.
There’s no evidence that Grenell had ties to the influencers, according to Politico. When a reporter for the outlet sought comment from him, he called the journalist an “unserious gossip reporter,” adding, “None of this is true.”
Sources did say Grenell wanted badly to be secretary of State, a position for which Trump has nominated U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. They also said Grenell had offers for the post of director of national intelligence and another job but rejected them. Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman turned Republican, is Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, a position that Grenell held on an acting basis in the first Trump term after being ambassador to Germany. There’s still a possibility that Trump will offer Grenell another high-ranking position, sources told Politico.
He has been a strong Trump loyalist and has spoken at the past two Republican National Conventions. At the 2020 convention, he spread false conspiracy theories about supposed plots against Trump by former President Barack Obama and the man who would beat Trump in that year’s presidential election, Joe Biden. At the 2024 event, he asserted that Trump is not antigay. But Trump is certainly anti-transgender, and he has courted the religious right, known for hostility to all LGBTQ+ people. Grenell has also often made the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
Grenell’s “prickly personality” may have kept him from the secretary of State nomination, according to Politico’s sources. In addition, there was the possibility that his business interests would come under a spotlight. Grenell is working with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, on developing a hotel in Belgrade, Serbia, a project with an estimated cost of $500 million.
Trump has nominated one gay man to a Cabinet post in his second administration, investment manager Scott Bessent, who is up for Treasury secretary.
