Latest news with #Grenell
Business Recorder
7 days ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Richard Grenell meets IK's sons
ISLAMABAD: Richard Grenell, the outspoken US envoy under President Donald Trump, dropped in on Imran Khan's sons in California on Wednesday, increasing pressure on Pakistani authorities by demanding his release. Grenell, one of Khan's most vocal international supporters, posted a photo on X with Khan's sons, Suleman and Kasim, writing: 'Welcome to California, my friends. I loved hanging out with you today.' He urged them to stay strong, adding: 'There are millions of people around the world who are sick of political prosecutions. You are not alone. #FreeImranKhan.' The meeting comes as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) prepares to launch a nationwide protest campaign demanding Khan's release on August 5. Under mounting government pressure, PTI has announced that Khan's sons – who have largely stayed out of the spotlight – will now take an active role in the protests, signalling a significant shift in their political involvement. Last month, Khan's sons publicly voiced concern over his health and conditions, drawing further scrutiny over his treatment behind bars. While Grenell's support remains largely symbolic, it resonates deeply with Khan's supporters, who hope that growing international attention will force Pakistani authorities to reconsider the detention of their leader. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Time of India
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
"Stay Strong": Trump Ally Meets Imran Khan's Sons, Slams Political Arrests
/ Jul 23, 2025, 11:34AM IST Former US ambassador and Trump's envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, met with the sons of jailed PTI founder and former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in California. Calling Khan's imprisonment a case of 'political prosecution,' Grenell expressed solidarity with Sulaiman Isa and Kasim Khan, urging them to "stay strong." He drew parallels between Khan's legal troubles and former President Donald Trump's, stating that both leaders face politically motivated charges. Grenell also recalled better US-Pakistan relations under the Trump-Khan leadership. Meanwhile, PTI continues to raise alarm over Khan's detention conditions, warning of a looming constitutional and humanitarian crisis in Pakistan.#richardgrenell #imrankhan #pti #uspakrelations #donaldtrump#politicalprosecution #humanrights #adialajail #pakistanpolitics #imrankhanarrest #freeimrankhan
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First Post
14-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Team Trump at war: Internal power struggle threatens Trump's Maga agenda
From Epstein Files to Iran, here's how power struggles have been dividing the Trump administration 2.0 read more The sad fact of the matter is that, despite a promising start, Trump now appears to be bogged down in distractions. File image/Reuters With seven months in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump is facing one challenge after another within his team. Internal power struggles have been brewing in the Trump administration 2.0, giving the POTUS a hard time in resolving the clashes. Trump and his team's ever-changing stances on several matters are also leaving his 'Make America Great Again' supporters largely divided. The latest feud brewing within the Trump administration is between Trump's Envoy for Special Missions, Richard Grenell and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Critics argued that Grenell's 'freelancing' skills are damaging diplomatic negotiations with other nations and threatening national security. The Grenell vs Rubio saga is not the only one that rocked the Trump administration. Tensions have been simmering between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) over the Jeffrey Epstein case. Here's a look at the power struggles that are in play within the Trump administration: Grenell vs Rubio The most recent controversy that has hit the US Department of State involves a botched effort to secure the release of Americans unjustly detained in Venezuela. According to a report by The New York Times, the deal fell apart after Grenell and the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, were negotiating a separate deal with the Venezuelan side. As per the report, the Gernell deal included an extension for Chevron to export oil from Venezuela, a policy option that Rubio has shot down in the past. While Grenell has brought home seven Americans unjustly detained in Venezuela, Rubio was forced in May to publicly reject Grenell's suggestion that Trump would extend a license for Chevron to operate in the Latin American nation. The NYT report soon stirred a storm in the White House, with the administration going into damage control mode. When asked about the tussle, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Hill, 'There is no faction or division. The President has one team, and everyone knows he is the ultimate decision maker.' However, Elliott Abrams, who served as special representative for Iran and Venezuela in Trump's first term, said there are 'certainly' tensions between Grenell and Rubio. Overall, this left the Trump administration in an awkward position. DoJ vs FBI Earlier this month, Trump's Department of Justice and the FBI concluded that they found no evidence that infamous sex offender and British financier Jeffrey Epstein blackmailed powerful figures, kept a 'client list', or was murdered. The memo soon created an apparent divide between the FBI and the DoJ. Both departments eventually struggled to contain the fallout, with far-right media personalities soon starting to pick sides. Not only this, the acknowledgement that the Epstein client list never actually existed, sparked a contentious conversation between Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino at the White House this week. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Bongino even went on to threaten to resign, and many of the Trump supporters became restless. This was the first time the Trump administration had officially contradicted conspiracy theories about Epstein's activities and his death. Interestingly, these two theories were actively pushed by the FBI's top two officials before Trump appointed them to the bureau. Both FBI Director Kash Patel and Bongino were among those in the MAGA world who questioned the official version of how Epstein died. Since then, both Patel and Bongino admitted that the British sex offender died by suicide. But the reports of Bongino quitting eventually prompted Trump to pick sides in the tussle. Trump emphasised that no more time and energy should be wasted on the case since no one cares about Epstein. The president was attempting to unite his base through a nearly 400-word post on TruthSocial. 'What's going on with my 'boys' and, in some cases, 'gals?' They're all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!' Trump wrote in the post on Saturday. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'We're on one Team, MAGA, and I don't like what's happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and 'selfish people' are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein," he added. However, the two sides continue to remain divided over the matter. Hegseth jumping the guns Earlier this month, NBC News reported that US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth solely decided to halt sending aid, even though experts noted the aid would not have jeopardised the US's readiness to defend itself. As per the report, this is the third time Hegseth has halted US military supplies to Ukraine. When US President Donald Trump was asked about the pause on Thursday, he claimed that it was a necessary move because 'Biden emptied our whole country, giving them weapons, and we have to make sure we have enough for ourselves'. However, while speaking to NBC News, Trump mentioned that he was unaware of a pause ordered by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth halting the distribution of a planned weapons shipment to Ukraine. To save face, Trump emphasised that he and NATO leaders had reached an agreement in which allies would pay for US arms that would be then sent to Ukraine. 'We're sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100 per cent,' he told the American news outlet. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD On Iran The US's decision to join Israel in striking Iran's nuclear facilities also left MAGA divided and concerned. Some of the ardent supporters of Trump called out his administration for dragging the US into the 12-day war. While Trump claimed that Iran is just weeks away from acquiring nuclear weapons, the American intelligence suggested otherwise. On March 25, Trump's director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, unambiguously told members of the US Congress that Iran was not moving towards building nuclear weapons. 'The IC [intelligence community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader [Ali] Khamenei has not authorised the nuclear weapons programme he suspended in 2003,' she said at that time. However, Trump dismissed Gabbard's assertion, and the DEI herself changed her stance. But the difference in the take also made several MAGA supporters uncomfortable. The tussle settled only after Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire. Apart from this, there have been other simmering tensions within the Trump administration. For example, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and former DOGE boss Elon Musk. With all these tussles stemming out in just seven months of the Trumpian era, it will be interesting to see how the POTUS will navigate these cracks. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
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First Post
14-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Rubio vs Grenell: Is a ‘loose cannon' blowing Trump diplomacy to pieces?
Richard Grenell, US President Donald Trump's Envoy for Special Missions, has been running around on high-profile assignments without any oversight or coordination with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The result is that he has compromised the US-Venezuela talks for the release of jailed Americans and embarrassed the White House repeatedly. Read more about the 'loose cannon' Grenell. read more The photograph shows Richard Grenell, currently the Presidential Envoy for Special Missions, visiting the stage ahead of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, July 14, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/Mike Segar) Just like Elbridge Colby in the Department of Defense, US President Donald Trump has got a loose cannon in his foreign policy team as well. He is Richard Grenell. As the President's Envoy for Special Missions, Grenell has a portfolio that stretches from tasks in Venezuela to North Korea. His working has, however, not just frustrated senior figures in the Trump administration and has raised ethical questions, but has also compromised foreign policy priorities. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD For example, Grenell's handling of negotiations with Venezuela about the release of jailed Americans led to the failure of talks. Last week, The New York Times reported that Grenell held talks with the same Venezuelan official without coordinating with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was also holding talks at the same time, and offered Venezuela terms that had not been approved by White House. The result was that talks collapsed and efforts to secure the release of Americans jailed by Venezuelan ruler Nicolas Maduro failed. The Venezuela debacle is just one of the occasions when Grenell has embarrassed the Trump administration. His 'freelance' way of working is part of the broader pattern in the Trump administration where there is little clarity about who calls the shots. Grenell — a freelancer with little checks and balances While supporters have lauded Grenell for being one of the foremost champions of Trump, critics have said that he has been 'freelancing' in the administration and has not worked as per the mandate. 'It just says that the administration, part of it doesn't know what the other's doing, and that can put Americans at risk,' Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen told The Hill about the Venezuela debacle. Grenell has operated outside of the purview of Department of State and even the White House. Consider these instances: In addition to compromising Venezuela talks, Grenell embarrassed the White House by telling Romania to release internet personalities Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate, who have been charged with a host of crimes like rape, human trafficking, and assault, and subsequently bring them to the United States. Grenell also blindsided the administration by using a private aeroplane without authorisation to bring Americans released by Venezuela to the United States. Moreover, Rubio was publicly forced to reject Grenell's push for Trump to overturn the decision of stopping Chevron's operations in Venezuela. A source familiar with the thinking of the White House described Grenell to The Hill as 'a little untethered'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'I would describe Ric as kind of a little bit of — maybe not even a little bit — a loose cannon. He's involved in a million things. He's running around. The president likes him and it's a classic thing, like, the president likes him, these guys feel empowered. There's no checks, no balances,' the source said. Considering that Rubio is stretched thin because he is doing two jobs of Secretary of State and National Security Adviser, he needs more authority to keep Grenell in check, Michael Rubin, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told The Hill. Chaos in Trump's foreign, defence teams Grenell represents the larger chaos in Trump's foreign and defence policies. While Grenell has sought to operate without any guardrails out of his loyalty to Trump, Elbridge Colby, who is the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, has driven some of the most controversial decisions at the Department of Defense without approval from Trump. For example, neither Trump nor Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were the driving force behind the suspension of weapons to Ukraine this month. It was Colby. Trump later reversed the suspension. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Similarly, Colby unilaterally ordered the review of Aukus, the agreement between the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia to develop maritime capabilities in the Indo-Pacific that involves the sale of nuclear submarines to Australia. He has also asked Japan and Australia about their plans in case China invades Taiwan. The Taiwan diktat particularly rattled US allies as even the United States does not have a clear policy in the matter — the United States follows 'strategic ambiguity' regarding the defence of Taiwan. As Trump has little interest in policy matters and instead indulges in populist agenda like the crackdown on immigrants, and his secretaries appear inefficient to run their departments, relatively junior officials like Grenell and Colby appear to be running the show without any supervision. In an article for The Atlantic, Tom Nichos noted that no one appears to be in charge of the US government. As Trump's secretaries are 'either incompetent or detached from most of the policy making, and so decisions are being made at lower levels without much guidance from above', noted Nichols. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He further noted, 'The Trump White House's policy process—insofar as it can be called a 'process'—is the type found in many authoritarian states, where the top levels of government tackle the one or two big things the leader wants done and everything else tumbles down to other functionaries, who can then drive certain issues according to their own preferences (which seems to be what Colby is doing), or who will do just enough to stay under the boss's radar and out of trouble (which seems to be what most other Trump appointees are doing). In such a system, no one is really in charge except Trump—which means that on most days, and regarding many issues, no one is in charge.'
The Hill
13-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Tensions between Rubio, Grenell flare over Venezuela deals
President Trump's envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, is causing tensions within the State Department as critics say his 'freelancing' is damaging U.S. diplomatic negotiations and threatening national security. The most recent controversy includes a botched effort to secure the release of Americans unjustly detained in Venezuela that fell apart because Grenell and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were negotiating separate deals, The New York Times reported. Grenell's deal reportedly included an extension for Chevron to export oil from Venezuela, a policy option that Rubio has shot down in the past. The reported episode is shining a light on dysfunction within Trump's inner circle, coinciding with confusion surrounding the Pentagon's halting weapons shipments to Ukraine and ever-changing goal posts on tariffs. 'It just says that the administration, part of it doesn't know what the other's doing, and that can put Americans at risk,' Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told The Hill of the Venezuela discord. Last month, Van Hollen joined a group of 20 bipartisan senators asking Rubio to continue efforts to free at least eight unjustly detained Americans in Venezuela. Grenell is a divisive character in Trump world. He is lauded by supporters for being one of the president's most ardent defenders, and for his willingness to buck conventional foreign policy thinking. But his critics within the administration succeeded in boxing him out of the top-level positions he coveted most, secretary of State and national security adviser. Trump appointed him 'envoy of special missions' with a mandate that stretched from Venezuela to North Korea. He has added to his portfolio as president of Washington's cultural home, the Kennedy Center, and was dispatched to California to oversee the federal response to the wildfires. But his role in Venezuela is amplifying the voices of critics who say his behind-the-scenes diplomacy is harming U.S. interests. While Grenell has brought home seven Americans unjustly detained in Venezuela, Rubio was forced in May to publicly reject Grenell's suggestion that Trump would extend a license for Chevron to operate in Venezuela as an exchange for the Americans. When asked about The New York Times reporting and who Grenell takes his direction from, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Hill, 'There is no fraction or division. The President has one team and everyone knows he is the ultimate decision maker.' Elliott Abrams, who served as special representative for Iran and Venezuela in Trump's first term, said there are 'certainly' tensions between Grenell and State. 'I think that's what happens when Grenell goes freelancing,' said Abrams. 'So I think what needs to happen here is to leave foreign affairs in the hands of the State Department, and in this case, Rubio and [Deputy Secretary of State] Chris Landau and just get Grenell's butt out.' One source close to Trump World said that 'Ric Grenell is a man in search of a job.' And another source familiar with the thinking of the White House described Grenell as 'a little untethered.' 'I would describe Ric as kind of a little bit of — maybe not even a little bit — a loose cannon. He's involved in a million things. He's running around. The president likes him and it's a classic thing, like, the president likes him, these guys feel empowered. There's no checks, no balances,' the source added. Grenell's appointment as special envoy did not require Senate confirmation. The New York Times reported in December that while Grenell was chasing secretary of state or a high-level intelligence role, the confirmation hearings would have forced scrutiny of his communications role on behalf of foreign clients, including Hungary, Congo, Kenya and Iran. While special envoys require Senate confirmation if under the purview of the secretary of State, the GOP-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee sided with Trump's view that the special envoy position was operating under the purview of the president and did not require senate confirmation. 'Ric's a good guy, close to the president, doing a good job,' Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told The Hill when asked about Grenell and Rubio's efforts on Venezuela. 'He's got a special role, and it's a unique role. And as such, they have quite a bit of freedom in that role generally, and I know that he talks with us all the time. He talks with the secretary of State all the time, so that's all I have to say.' Trump's other special envoys — including Steve Witkoff for the Middle East and Russia, Keith Kellogg for Ukraine and Massad Boulos for Africa — have also operated without confirmation. Michael Rubin, senior fellow with the conservative Washington think tank the American Enterprise Institute, said Rubio needs to exercise more authority to keep Grenell in line. 'All administrations suffer from different people working at cross purposes. In the Trump administration, the problem compounds because Trump shoots from the hip and directs via social media post, and so underlings interpret their mandates in different ways,' Rubin said. 'In any administration, the job of the Secretary of State or the national security adviser is to contain this. As this is now just one person — Marco Rubio — it's hard not to put the blame on him.' Grenell's reported deal is at odds with lawmakers who see any attempt to normalize or legitimize Venezuela's dictator Nicolás Maduro as a dangerous threat to American national security. In April, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) praised Trump and Rubio for ending Chevron's license and earlier said 'there's no scenario where the United States should do business with thugs like Maduro and his vile regime.' The Department of Justice, during Trump's first term, indicted Maduro and 14 other current and former high level officials for narco-terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking and other criminal charges. Freddy Guevara, an exiled Venezuelan opposition figure and former vice president of Venezuela's Parliament, pointed to Maduro's alliance with America's adversaries as further reason the U.S. should maintain its policy of isolation. 'The Maduro regime depends on the Chinese, on the Iranians, on the Russians — the people who are thinking that they are doing realpolitik are just being naive,' he said. 'There's nothing that the United States can provide that will be more secure than the support of Iran and China and Russia.' Rubio is seen by insiders as having clout with Trump than Grenell, at least for now. 'He's manifested exactly what Trump wanted. Smart, good-looking guy who's articulating, who parrots exactly what the president wants,' the source familiar with the thinking of the White House said. 'He is the president's guy.'
