Richard Grenell
Richard Grenell The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented By The AIDS Institute – Teeth’s Chances To Lead OMB Drop Former Trump Officials Eye Bids For Political Office Grenell Congratulates Buttigieg On His Second Openly Gay Cabinet Member MORE, a former Trump administration official and a popular figure among the right flank of the GOP, hinted that he was Gov. Gavin Newsom
Gavin NewsomBiden Targets Winter Storm With Texas Trip The Hill’s 12:30 Report – Presented By Facebook – J&J A-OK, Teeth’s Law In Trouble California Sends 0 Instant Payments To Low Income Residents MORE (D) faces a recall from Republicans.
At Saturday’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Grenell, a former acting director of the national intelligence agency and ambassador to Germany, launched an attack on Newsom and praised the recall that is gaining momentum in the Golden State.
“If you want the best possible case for a recall, check out my home state of California. California used to be the Reagan country, the shining example of middle-class business innovation and success. But now when you think of California, you think of wildfires that got out of hand, rolling power outages, schools still closed, shuttered businesses, bans on fracking, and rich people jumping the vaccination line, ”he told a raucous crowd.
“In my three decades in US politics, I have never seen a better reason for a recall than I do in California,” he added. “And of course, if a government official still doesn’t deliver on his promises, and if you can’t limit his term or recall them in time, there is always another option: you can fight them yourself.”
Mercedes Schlapp, another former White House official, praised Grenell after his speech, saying on the podium, “I don’t know, I think he was going to be a great Governor of California.”
The comments come amid reports that Grenell is investigating a bid for Governor if the attempt to recall Newsom goes forward.
Grenell did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill following his CPAC address.
Trump allies like Fox New host Sean Hannity
Sean Patrick HannityCruz Blames Criticism of Cancun Trip On Media ‘Trump Withdrawal’ The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented By The AIDS Institute – Teeth’s Chances Drop To Lead OMB Former Trump Officials For Political Office MORE and Rep. Matt Gaetz
Matthew (Matt) Gaetz Trump To Rise Up On The Political Scene At CPAC Former Trump Officials Eyebiases Before Cancun Political Office Threatens To Do Permanent Damage To Cruz MORE (R-Fla.) Have urged Grenell to make a governmental offer if Newsom is recalled, and sources previously told The Hill that the former Trump official is considering it, although he has acknowledged that a Republican who running for a California state office would be tough. opportunities.
There are chatter about a potential Grenell offer as Newsom faces a recall that will become increasingly likely later this year.
Supporters of the recall look forward to a mid-March deadline to collect the required signatures to force a vote. The California Secretary of State’s office said it had verified 668,202 signatures of the 1,495,709 recall advocates that were necessary to enforce the recall by February 5. Another 300,000 signatures had yet to be processed, but supporters of recalls said they had collected about 1.7 million signatures in total.
The supporters require 1.5 million signatures, but often submit hundreds of thousands of signatures with the expectation that some will be discarded as invalid.
Newsom faces criticism on several fronts. Frustration among Republicans is boiling over its coronavirus restrictions and its impact on the economy. He also caused a firestorm when he ordered a number of businesses to shut down and urge the Californians to stay at home, only to be seen in a posh restaurant celebrating a political adviser’s birthday.
As a sign that the controversies have taken their toll, Newsom’s approval rating dropped from 64 percent in September to just 46 percent in late January, according to a poll by the University of California-Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies.
However, some observers speculate that Newsom will survive given the deeper blue hue of the country’s largest state. Not a single Republican with a massive following has officially thrown in the ring opposing Newsom in a recall, and registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by a margin of nearly two to one.
Grenell would certainly take a ton of pro-Trump bona fides into a governmental race and would likely thrill the GOP base. However, it remains unclear that support for the former president would pay dividends in California, which Trump lost by nearly 30 points.