President Donald Trump has chosen former diplomat and Fox News commentator Ric Grenell as U.S. ambassador to Germany.
If he’s confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Grenell would be the first openly gay envoy in the Trump administration.
Grenell, 50, was considered during the Trump transition as a possible pick to be the United States’ ambassador to the United Nation, a post ultimately awarded to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
His name also came up as a potential NATO ambassador before former Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was named to fill that opening.
Richard Grenell, left, will be President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Germany, the White House has announced
Grenell, pictured with his partner of 15 years, Matt Lashey, will be Trump’s first openly gay foreign envoy
A White House official told DailyMail.com during the summer that former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus asked Grenell following the resignation of press secretary Sean Spicer if he wanted to take over that role.
Grenell held out for an ambassadorship, and got his wish when Trump passed over former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore. A White House official told DailyMail.com in July that Gilmore had been promised in the spring that he was the leading candidate to serve in Berlin.
Grenell is expected to take his post by year’s end in a job once held by John Quincy Adams, Henry Cabot Lodge and current Director of National intelligence Dan Coats.
He did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
But his elevation to ambassadorial rank is seen as a reward for serving in the George W. Bush administration as the spokesman for four different UN ambassadors.
During that time, he regularly took the place of ambassadors during UN Security Council meetings, cementing his public image as more than a mere press liaison.
Grenell is a non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma survivor and co-created chemoWave, a mobile app that helps cancer patients track their diet, hydration, exercise, social interaction and mental engagement during chemotherapy.
Grenell, left, served as spokesman for four U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations, including John Bolton (right)
Trump, pictured at a Colorado rally barely a week before the 2016 election, courted the support of the LGBT community and was the first major party nominee to mention them in his convention acceptance speech
Grenell, pictured at Trump Tower in New York City during the presidential transition, was also considered as a potential ambassador to both NATO and the United Nations
The chemoWave website includes a video featuring Grenell and his partner of 15 years, Matt Lashey, talking about their experience personalizing what is typically a one-size-fits-all treatment experience.
Grenell and Lashey are both conservative evangelical Christians. Grenell has used his Twitter feed to challenge his critics to head-to-head Bible quizzes.
Trump has done little to court the support of the LGBT community, mentioning them just once this year in a proclamation declaring that he would retain Obama-era workplace nondiscrimination policies.
‘President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election,’ a January 31 statement from Spicer read. ‘The President is proud to have been the first ever GOP nominee to mention the LGBTQ community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression.’
Grenell served as a foreign policy adviser to both Mitt Romney and John McCain during their unsuccessful runs for president.
He ultimately resigned from Romney’s campaign when the candidate came under fire from social conservatives over having an openly gay man in his inner circle.
Pictured is the American embassy in Berlin, Germany
He was a visible presence in Cleveland last year at the Republican National Convention, however, appearing at a brunch hosted by pro-LGBT Republicans that featured transgender GOP activist Caitlyn Jenner.
Grenell’s posting in Germany comes at a time when Trump’s relationship with Chancellor Angela Merkel is being closely watched all around the world.
And his sharp-tongued approach to communications will make the Berlin embassy a place for no-nonsense proclamations of Trump’s foreign policy.
After news broke in April that former Obama administration officials were suspected of ‘unmasking’ the names of Trump insiders that had been redacted from raw intelligence reports, Grenell was quick to point a finger at former National Security Advisor Susan Rice.
He claimed that if Rice and her deputy Ben Rhodes were behind politically motivated leaks of classified intelligence, former president Barack Obama was also in the know.
‘Former State Department colleagues of mine have been talking about Susan Rice’s role for weeks,’ Richard Grenell told DailyMail.com then.
‘She and her team certainly were hyper-partisan throughout their tenure. It makes sense.’