US Envoy On Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue Promoted By Trump As Acting Head Of Intelligence

Gazeta Express

20/02/2020 9:54

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Richard Grenell, the current U.S. ambassador to Germany and his special envoy on Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, to be acting director of national intelligence, media are reporting.

“Rick has represented our Country exceedingly well and I look forward to working with him,” the president tweeted. US media report that Grenell is known as a fierce loyalist of Trump and is part of the President’s campaign to place trusted individuals in highly sensitive posts. Politico reports that while serving in Berlin Grenell has been a loyal and outspoken supporter of the president, tangling frequently with reporters on his voluble Twitter feed and often commenting on issues ranging far beyond the traditional remit of an ambassador.

In October 2019 Trump appointed Grenell as his special envoy on Kosovo-Serbia dialogue who managed to convince Pristina and Belgrade sign three letters of intent on restoring, air, rail and highway links between the two countries. Grenell as Trump’s envoy was pushing hard on Pristina to drop 100 percent tariffs on Serbian goods.

Kosovo president Hashim Thaci who in January hosted Grenell in Pristina welcomed Trump’s decision to appoint Grenell as acting Head of Intelligence and commended on his job done in broerking deals with Serbia. “Ambassador Grenell has done a terrific job as special envoy on the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. I wish you Rick great success in your new mission to keep USA and the world safer,” Thaci wrote in Twitter.

On Wednesday morning Grenell was still dealing with the Kosovo issue when in a Tweet rebutted a European website EUobserver writing that the US remain open to Kosovo-Serbia land swap. “Fake news. And you never called or wrote to ask. I am for what the parties agree to – I’m focused on economic development, not politics,” Grenell wrote in Twitter. /GazetaExpress/