Trump picks Truth Social CEO Nunes for intelligence advisory board, Grenell as special envoy
Nunes latest loyalist named to steer Trump’s second term
Washington: President-elect Donald Trump said he's appointing Devin Nunes, the chief executive officer of his Truth Social platform, to head a presidential advisory board that he said will keep tabs on the US intelligence community.
He also named Ric Grenell as "presidential envoy for special missions." Grenell, who was Trump's first-term ambassador to Germany, "will work in some of the hottest spots around the world, including Venezuela and North Korea," Trump said on his Truth Social network.
Nunes, a former Congressman from California and former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, will head the President's Intelligence Advisory Board while continuing his leadership of Trump Media & Technology Group, Trump said in a statement Saturday.
As chairman of the advisory board, Nunes will "provide me with independent assessments of the effectiveness and propriety of the US Intelligence Community's activities," Trump said.
He praised Nunes' role in "exposing" the FBI investigation into whether Trump's campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, which Trump calls a hoax.
In February 2018, Nunes released a four-page memorandum alleging a Federal Bureau of Investigation conspiracy against Trump and then began an investigation of the FBI and the Justice Department. Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2021.
Grenell was known as a combative ambassador during his time in Berlin. He also served as acting director of national intelligence and Trump's envoy for Kosovo-Serbia negotiations.
Nunes is the latest loyalist tapped by Trump since he won the presidential election in November.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday he'll resign before Trump takes office on Jan. 20, prematurely ending his tumultuous tenure.
That would make way for Kash Patel, the Trump ally the president-elect has nominated to head the chief US law enforcement agency and who Trump also says was instrumental in exposing "uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax."
Also on Trump's nominee list is former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who has echoed Russian propaganda on Ukraine, as the next director of national intelligence.
Trump also said he's nominating International Business Machines Corp. executive Troy Edgar, who served as chief financial officer at the Department of Homeland Security during his first term, as deputy DHS secretary.
Edgar "did an outstanding job" managing DHS's $90 billion budget as well as "resourcing critical immigration policy" and funding construction of the US border wall with Mexico, Trump said in a separate statement.
In his latest diplomatic nominations, Trump tapped Bill White, who heads the Constellations Group consulting firm and formerly led a sea, air and space museum, to be US ambassador to Belgium. Construction and general contracting executive Edward Sharp Walsh will be Trump's nominee for ambassador to Ireland, he said.