FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
"The New York Times" has dedicated an article to Richard Grenell, Donald Trump's former envoy for the Balkans. He expects to become Secretary of State if Trump returns to power. American media shows his difficult path and behind-the-scenes maneuvers.
Richard Grenell's bid to be Secretary of State in a second Trump administration began late on Election Day in 2020, when the defeated president sent loyalists to run "stop-theft" operations in battleground states.
President Donald J. Trump asked Mr. Grenell to fly by private plane to Nevada, where Mr. Grenell brought along his dog Lola, lawyers and a crew of far-right activists and settled into a suite at the Venetian resort, which served as the group's "war room" in Las Vegas. In a days-long spectacle, Trump's team filed a lawsuit and floated false allegations of fraud, including one that falsely implicated hundreds of members of the military.
It was all a hoax. Mr. Grenell told the team in the war room, two GOP operatives recalled, that Nevada's vote was not, in fact, stolen. The operators, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation from Mr Grenell, said he told the team the aim was simply to "throw spaghetti at the wall".
In retrospect, one of the operatives said, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol should have subpoenaed everyone in the room, including the operative himself.
This article is based on interviews with 40 people, including nearly three dozen Republicans. Most requested anonymity because they did not want to hurt their chances for roles in a future Trump administration or draw the ire of Mr. Grenell, who often lashes out at those he disagrees with on social media. A former Republican operative said that after a recent dispute, Mr. Grenell created the operative's tweets for five years to fuel an online attack that lasted for weeks.
For his opponents, Mr. Grenell is a caustic opportunist of modest means who rose to the heights of an administration that prized the 'pit bull' party. Susan E. Rice, President Biden's former domestic policy adviser and a former national security adviser to President Barack Obama, has called him "one of the worst and most dishonest people I've ever met." Brad Chase, Mr Grenell's former business partner, who fell out with him over his conversion to Trumpism, said he was a "callous and shameless salesman".
To his supporters, Mr. Grenell is a loyal and tireless messenger for Mr. Trump, delivering the former president's demands with an efficient hostility that drowns out naysayers.
"President Trump trusts him as a safe pair of hands in deconstructing the administrative state and confronting the deep state," Stephen K. Bannon, Trump's former strategist and host of the "War Room" podcast, said in a brief interview. ".
Either way, some people close to the former president say Mr. Grenell has a good chance of landing a top foreign policy job in a second Trump administration — if not as secretary of state, which would require Senate confirmation, then perhaps as national security adviser. They note that Mr. Grenell has spent three and a half years using his contacts in the Balkans in business ventures, including a key partner - Jared Kushner, Mr Trump's son-in-law.
"If you want to avoid war, you better have a son of a bitch as secretary of state," Mr. Grenell said on a March episode of "Self Centered," a current affairs podcast. America needs a "tough" chief diplomat, he said, "who walks into these tables and says, 'Guys, if we don't work this out here, if we don't represent peace and find a hard way, I' this file, to go back to the United States and give it to the secretary of defense, who does not negotiate. He will bomb you."
Privately, Mr. Grenell has hinted at times to former Trump administration colleagues that the secretary of state job is lined up for him, although two people in Mr. Trump's inner circle say such assurances from any job seeker are premature.
A person close to Mr. Trump said the former president has raised questions about Mr. Grenell's communications work for foreign clients, prompted by Mr. Grenell's work in the Balkans and a request by him last year that Mr. Trump met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.
Concerns about conflicts of interest may seem ironic coming from Mr. Trump, who used the presidency to benefit his businesses. But the person close to Mr Trump cited two conversations in which the former president said he did not like his advisers traveling the world making money off their association with him.
Still, Mr. Trump speaks regularly to Mr. Grenell and a year and a half ago praised his pugilistic loyalty. "Ric Grenell: a fighter," Mr. Trump said in Arizona in October 2022. "We have a great, great man. A great fighter. He has a lot of future."
"I can make money"
Z. Grenell që atëherë ka qenë i zënë në Ballkan. Ai ka bërë plane me zotin Kushner për një hotel luksoz, kompleks apartamentesh dhe muze në Beograd, kryeqytetin e Serbisë, në vendin e bombardimeve të NATO-s në vitin 1999 që shkatërroi selinë e Ushtrisë Jugosllave. Ai po zhvillon gjithashtu dy vende të tjera turistike luksoze, një në një gadishull shqiptar dhe tjetri në një ishull mesdhetar në brigjet e Shqipërisë.
"Unë jam duke punuar në projekte, projekte të kapitalit privat, për të cilat mund të fitoj para", tha zoti Grenell në një intervistë televizive në Shqipëri vitin e kaluar. "Askush nuk duhet të kërkojë kurrë falje që dëshiron të fitojë para", shtoi ai.
Lidhjet e zotit Grenell me Ballkanin rrjedhin edhe përmes gazetës së ekstremit të djathtë Newsmax, ku ai është analist dhe nënkryetar për zhvillimin ndërkombëtar. Vitin e kaluar, Newsmax hyri në një marrëveshje shumëvjeçare me Telecom Serbia, transportuesi shtetëror serb, për të transmetuar përmbajtjen e Newsmax në Evropën Lindore. Newsmax tha në një deklaratë se zoti Grenell nuk ishte i përfshirë në negociatat mbi marrëveshjen.
Zoti Grenell është bashkuar gjithashtu me një tregtar armësh dhe ish ekspert të Newsmax, John Cardillo, për të eksploruar mundësitë e prodhimit të municioneve në Ballkan, sipas dy personave që ata i thanë për sipërmarrjen e tyre. Z. Cardillo, kompania e të cilit quhet M42 Tactical, u padit kohët e fundit për dyshimin se kishte futur në xhep afro 200,000 dollarë që u paguan nga një emigrant ukrainas, Michael Bogachek, për të furnizuar me makina të blinduara policinë në Ukrainë, por që nuk u dorëzuan kurrë.
Zoti Grenell ka punuar shumë për të ndihmuar jo vetëm zotin Trump, por edhe familjen e tij. Ai ndihmoi Melania Trump të siguronte 500,000 dollarë për dy fjalime në dy ditë radhazi në 2022, duke përfshirë një për Fix California, një grup për integritetin zgjedhor dhe angazhimin e votuesve i themeluar nga z. Grenell në vitin 2021.. Ai e ka lavdëruar publikisht vajzën e zotit Trump, Ivanka, si zyrtarin e parë të Shtëpisë së Bardhë që njohu statusin e zotit Grenell si anëtari i parë homoseksual i kabinetit amerikan.
Në një episod të pa raportuar më parë, zoti Grenell propozoi vitin e kaluar një ide për të nënvizuar ankesat e zotit Trump se aktakuzat e kërkuara nga prokurori i posaçëm, Jack Smith, ishin politike. Zoti Grenell i sugjeroi zotit Trump t'i bashkohej atij në një vizitë te ish-presidenti dhe kryeministri i Kosovës, Hashim Thaçi, në burgun në Hagë, ku ai pret gjykimin për akuzat për krime lufte. Z. Thaçi u padit gjithashtu nga z. Smith, i cili mbikëqyri ndjekjet penale të krimeve të luftës në Hagë përpara se të emërohej këshilltar special. Zoti Thaçi ka thënë se politika qëndron në themel të akuzave kundër tij.
Mr. Trump did not embrace Mr. Grenell's idea. A person close to Mr. Thaçi said he found the idea of Mr Trump and a raucous media frenzy ahead of The Hague's IEPC amusing - but decided it would be better to focus on his own case.
Mr. Grenell has posted suggestions on social networks that the indictment of Mr. Thaçi was a conspiracy led by the Department of Justice. / Adapted "Pamphlet" from "The New York Times"
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