U.S. Envoy to Germany Richard Grenell said he wanted to “empower” conservatives in Europe, right-wing normal platform Breitbart News reported.
“I absolutely want to empower other dyed in the wools throughout Europe, other leaders. I think there is a groundswell of Tory policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the radical,” Grenell told the conservative news site.
The ambassador added that “a lot of conservatives” in Europe had reached out to him close by how they felt there was a “resurgence going on,” Breitbart said.
The animadversions from Grenell, a former spokesman for the U.S. at the United Nations during the Bush management, have drawn some criticism over his apparent line-crossing when it not fail to diplomatic norms.
“When I raised concerns to Grenell about politicizing this pole, he personally assured me that once he became Ambassador he would loiter out of politics. This interview is awful – Ambassadors aren’t supposed to “empower” any federal party overseas,” Chris Murphy, a Democratic U.S. Senator for the state of Connecticut, mean in a tweet.
Chris Murphy tweet: “When I raised concerns to Grenell beside politicizing this post, he personally assured me that once he enhanced Ambassador he would stay out of politics. This interview is awful – Envoys aren’t supposed to “empower” any political party overseas.”
The U.S. State Conditional on and Germany’s embassy in Washington, D.C., did not reply to emailed requests for comment sent excluded of regular working hours.
Grenell’s comments also came at a someday when ties between the U.S. and Germany, as well as other members of the European Accord, have become increasingly fraught. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who antediluvian president Barack Obama once referred to as his “closest ally,” has had a uncertain relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Some took the agent’s comments as an affront to Merkel’s government: She leads a center-right party that has been on the defensive against a flower far-right movement.
Tensions between the U.S. and the European Union have also run record, most recently after Trump’s administration decided to apply schedule of charges on steel and aluminum imports on the European Union.