Senate confirms Trump pick for US ambassador to Germany

The Senate confirmed President Trump’s long-stalled nominee for ambassador to Germany a day before German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to visit the White House. 

Senators voted 56-42 to confirm Richard Grenell. A simple majority was needed.

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Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Doug Jones (Ala.), Joe Manchin (W.V.a.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) supported the nomination. 

The Senate vote comes after Trump railed against Democrats for holding up Grenell, who previously served as the U.S. spokesman to the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration. 

“The Dems will not approve hundreds of good people, including the Ambassador to Germany. They are maxing out the time on approval process for all, never happened before. Need more Republicans!” Trump said in a tweet earlier this week. 

Trump first nominated Grenell in September. After the Senate failed to confirm him by the end of last year, the White House had to re-nominate him in January. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Grenell was “delayed far too long.”

“The extreme partisanship displayed toward Mr. Grenell, a highly qualified nominee from President Trump, will be remembered,” he said. 

Democrats had raised a number of concerns about Grenell, including tweets attacking women.

“I cannot in good faith support a nominee who has a lengthy track record of tweets attacking both prominent Democratic women and prominent Republican women,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said last month after he blocked McConnell from bringing up Grenell’s nomination on the floor. 

“Since his nomination, these tweets have continued, showing a complete disregard for the Senate confirmation process and a disregard for the seriousness of the position for which he has been nominated.”

Merkley didn’t specify what tweets he was referring to, but Grenell has previously come under criticism for tweets, which have been deleted, that commented on women’s appearances.

In one, for example, he noted that Hillary Clinton was “starting to look like Madeline Albright.” In another, he questioned if Callista Gingrich’s hair “snaps on.”

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, also cited Grenell’s tweets when explaining his opposition to his nomination on Thursday. 

“These are not the words of a child or a teenager who does not yet understand the power of words. These are the words of a grown adult who had previously been a public face of the Bush Administration for 8 years,” he said. 

Menendez added: “Will he insult, via his Twitter account, the female Chancellor of Germany? I don’t know. I hope not.”

This story was updated at 4:16 p.m.