US Ambassador Grenell on Senate passing the Iran War Powers Resolution
U.S. Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell joins ‘CAVUTO Live.’
A CNN panel reacted Wednesday to President Trump's expected appointment of Richard Grenell, the current U.S. ambassador to Germany, to be the acting director of national intelligence (DNI).
"President Trump appears poised to fill the critical job of Director of National Intelligence with a loyalist," CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer told viewers, accompanied by a graphic on the screen that read: "Sources: Trump to name loyalist Ric Grenell as acting DNI, avoiding senate confirmation."
Fox News confirmed that Trump will name Grenell as acting DNI in a move that has heartened conservatives eager for new leadership after a series of scandals have plagued the intelligence community. Trump also tweeted Thursday that he was "pleased to announce" Grenell will "become the Acting Director of National Intelligence."
"It is actually a stunning choice," former Obama official and CNN national security analyst Carrie Cordero said. "I think that Richard Grenell would be the least qualified person to ever hold that."
"The first five Directors of National Intelligence who were confirmed by the Senate who had been people with decades of professional intelligence community experience or extensive careers in the diplomatic core or... there were two who were former admirals in the U.S. Navy," Cordero continued. "So these are people usually who have absolute decades of executive leadership in the military or in the intelligence community."
She said: "As far as I know from his background, he has no intelligence background whatsoever except for in his current capacity as an ambassador, he would be a consumer of intelligence information from some perspective. But really, his background as a communications professional, as I understand, is one that would be more suited to the spokesperson for the DNI than to serve as DNI."
Former federal prosecutor Shan Wu also knocked the appointment, saying Trump promised to "drain the swamp" and that he's now "filling the swamp up again" with loyalists.
CNN anchor Jim Sciutto, another former Obama official, later called Trump's pick an "egregious presidential choice" and called Grenell's lack of intelligence experience "alarming."
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Grenell would take over from the current acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, amid the president's push to remove what he calls "bad actors" at the highest levels of the FBI and other agencies.
Maguire was required by law to leave the post of acting DNI within weeks. Grenell would become the first openly gay cabinet member, upon his selection by the president.
Fox News' Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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