WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he's picked longtime foreign policy adviser Richard Grenell to serve as an envoy for special missions, tasking him with helping the incoming administration deal with some of the toughest foreign policy challenges.
Grenell served as ambassador to Germany during Trump’s first administration, special presidential envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations, and did a stint as acting director of national intelligence.
He was also a contender to serve as secretary of state, but Trump opted to nominate Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
“Ric will work in some of the hottest spots around the World, including Venezuela and North Korea,” Trump said in a posting on his social media platform, Truth Social, announcing the appointment.
Grenell during Trump's first term developed a reputation for employing a sometimes contentious approach to diplomacy that rankled allies and the foreign policy establishment in Washington. But his style was appreciated by the president-elect who sees value in blunt talk with allies.
Grenell remained close to Trump after he left office in 2021, serving at times as a key adviser on foreign policy.
He was in the room when Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in September. Grenell has advocated for a peace deal that would preserve Ukraine’s territory while still allowing for “autonomous regions” where Russia could remain in control.
He’s also advised against expanding NATO to include Ukraine, saying — as Trump has — that the alliance shouldn’t grow until current members meet the alliance's defense spending targets. Members of the transatlantic alliance have committed for years to spending 2% of their GDP on defense, but several countries still fall short of the target.
He was an early supporter of Trump’s 2024 campaign and held multiple events for the Republican nominee focused on economics and national security.
Speaking at the Republican National Convention, Grenell echoed Trump’s mantra that “it’s time to put America first” on the global stage and argued that China and Russia saw President Joe Biden's administration as weak.
Trump raised concerns among some allies during the 2024 campaign when he said he would not defend NATO members that failed to meet defense spending targets, and warned he would “encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to alliance countries that he considered “delinquent.”
Grenell has downplayed Trump's criticisms of NATO and said the only talk of leaving the alliance altogether “was really from the media.”
“What we’re saying is, don’t come to the wedding without a gift,” Grenell said.
Grenell was part of the Trump campaign's outreach to Arab American voters in Michigan, where the president-elect made gains with a traditionally Democratic constituency despite his history of banning immigration from several majority-Muslim countries. Grenell orchestrated pro-Trump events with Arab American voters, including a May meeting held in Troy, Michigan.
A U.S. spokesman at the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration, Grenell, like many other Republicans, has his own history of criticizing Trump before embracing him.
Once an adviser to GOP moderates like 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney and a supporter of gay marriage, Grenell, who is openly gay, deleted social media posts blasting Trump as “reckless” and “dangerous” once the former reality TV star became the Republican nominee in 2016.
Trump also announced Saturday that he’s appointing Devin Nunes, the chief executive officer of the president-elect's Truth Social platform, to head a presidential advisory board that will keep tabs on the U.S. intelligence community.
Nunes will continue leading Trump Media & Technology Group. Trump is the company’s largest shareholder.
The former California lawmaker chaired the House Intelligence Committee and was one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress during the president-elect's first term.
Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina.
Senator-elect Dave McCormick, R-Pa., from left, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of National Intelligence Tusli Gabbard, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance attend the NCAA college football game between Army and Navy at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
FILE - Former U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Richard Grenell speaks during a ceremony in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A major ice storm created treacherous driving conditions across Iowa and eastern Nebraska this weekend and prompted temporary closures of Interstate 80 after numerous cars and trucks slid off the road.
Many events were canceled across the region when the storm hit Friday evening, and businesses announced plans to open late Saturday as officials urged people to stay home if possible. Temperatures rose high enough in the afternoon to melt the ice in most places, however.
“Luckily some warmer air is moving in behind this to make it temporary,” said Dave Cousins, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's office in Davenport, Iowa.
At least one person died in a crash caused by the icy roads in eastern Nebraska. The Washington County Sheriff's office said a 57-year-old woman died after she lost control of her pickup on Highway 30 near Arlington and hit an oncoming truck. The other driver sustained minor injuries.
Elsewhere a storm and wind gusts of up to 60 mph (96 kph) prompted the first tornado warning in San Francisco and caused some damage. Parts of neighboring San Mateo County were also included in the warning, which went out at 5:51 a.m. to about 1 million people and was lifted about 20 minutes later.
Later Saturday a tornado touched down near a shopping mall in Scotts Valley, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of San Francisco, overturning cars and toppling trees and utility poles, the National Weather Service said.
“Based on video, photos, firsthand accounts, and radar signatures a tornado occurred (at) 1:40 PM,” the service said, adding that a team will investigate and provide a ranking.
Images uploaded to social media showed at least three vehicles on their hood or side, with their windshields smashed and trees and power lines on the ground.
Several people were injured and taken to hospitals, the Scotts Valley Police Department said.
“The tornado has caused extensive damage in several areas, including overturning several vehicles in and around the shopping district on Mt. Hermon Drive,” the department said in a statement. It asked people to avoid the area.
One of those injured was a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, KSBW-TV reported.
In San Francisco, some trees toppled onto cars and streets and damaged roofs. The city has not seen a tornado since 2005, according to the Weather Service. The damage was being assessed to determine if the city was indeed hit by a tornado.
“This was the first ever warning for a possible tornado in San Francisco. I would guess there wasn’t a clear signature on radar for a warning in 2005,” said Roger Gass, a meteorologist in the Weather Service's Monterey, California. He said he was not there in 2005.
The fast-moving storm prompted warnings for residents to take shelter, but few people have basements in the area.
“The biggest thing that we tell people in the city is to put as many walls between you and the outside as possible,” Meteorologist Dalton Behringer said.
In upstate New York, people were digging out after heavy snow fell. More than 33 inches (84 centimeters) was reported near Orchard Park, where residents are used to dealing with lake-effect snow this time of year.
And in Nevada, up to 3 feet (91 centimeters) of snow was forecast for Sierra Nevada mountaintops. More than a foot (30 cm) fell at some Lake Tahoe ski resorts, and a 112-mph (181-kph) gust of wind was recorded at the Mammoth Mountain resort south of Yosemite National Park, according to the National Weather Service’s Reno office.
A winter storm warning was set to expire at 10 p.m. Saturday, but an avalanche warning remained in effect into the following night for elevations above 8,000 feet (about 2,400 meters) around Tahoe.
Interstate 80 was closed along an 80-mile (130-kilometer) stretch from Applegate, California, to the Nevada line just west of Reno, where rain was falling and a winter weather advisory was in effect through the afternoon. The California Highway Patrol reopened the road in the afternoon for passenger vehicles with chains or four-wheel drive and snow tires, though it remained closed to semitrailer trucks.
In western Washington, tens of thousands of people lost electricity Saturday, local news outlets reported, amid a system that brought rain and gusty winds.
Associated Press reporters Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco, Julie Walker in New York, Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed.
Water from the San Francisco Bay spills onto the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, as a result of high tides and storm-driven waves. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Water from the San Francisco Bay spills onto the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, as a result of high tides and storm-driven waves. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Water from the San Francisco Bay spills onto the Embarcadero as a result of high tides and storm-driven waves on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Workers remove a large tree that fell into a mobile home in Seaside, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
Workers remove a large tree that fell into a mobile home in Seaside, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
Ice accumulates on a road sign in North Liberty, Iowa on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette via AP)
Ice accumulates on Trees, grass, and corn stalks in North Liberty, Iowa on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette via AP)
Ice coats blades of grass in North Liberty, Iowa on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette via AP)
Motorists make their way along Interstate 380 in North Liberty, Iowa, on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette via AP)
A cyclist looks at a large tree that took out power lines as it fell across Sylan Road in Monterey, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
Power lines damaged from a fallen tree are seen across Sylan Road in Monterey, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
A car is damaged by a fallen tree in Monterey, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
A large tree branch lays across a street in Seaside, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
People observe the New York skyline from Top of the Rock's Skylift, Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
A man spreads salt on 42nd Street near Pacific Street after freezing rain coated surfaces with ice in Omaha, Neb. on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A car gets stuck trying to go up an icy Pacific Street during freezing rain in Omaha, Neb. on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
Headlights from a stranded motorist highlight freezing rain that coated surfaces in Omaha, Neb. on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A truck is damaged after a large tree fell across a street in Seaside, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
A large tree branch crashed into a garage near Coe Avenue in Seaside, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
A man clears downed trees near his house in Seaside, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
This image, provided by the Livermore Police Dept. shows flooding near the intersection of Murrieta Blvd. and Stanley Blvd. during a storm Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024 in Livermore, Calif. (Livermore Police Dept. via AP)
