WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today voted to confirm Richard Grenell as U.S. Ambassador to Germany. The Senate approved the nomination by a vote of 56 to 42. The committee reported the nomination favorably to the full Senate in October of 2017 and again in January. Excerpts from Corker’s remarks on the Senate floor in advance of the vote follow.
“Mr. Grenell has a deep background in diplomacy and strategic communications. He received his master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He spent eight years as spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York and worked for every U.N. ambassador appointed by President George W. Bush.
“The German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to arrive in D.C. tomorrow for a one-day working trip to meet with President Trump. Her visit comes at a time of heightened importance with a number of critical items on the agenda, including transatlantic trade, the Iran nuclear deal, as well as Russia and Syria.
“I think it’s very fitting that we’re voting on this ambassadorship today. I hope that he will be quickly confirmed and sworn in.”
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