Neither Grenell nor Trump’s spokesman responded to requests for comment.
Trump has not yet publicly evaluated the recall effort, although many of his staunchest supporters have made it clear that they support Newsom’s removal. Former Trump adviser Mercedes Schlapp, wife of CPAC chief Matt Schlapp, commented on stage on Saturday morning that Grenell would be “a great governor of California”.
Grenell, 54, residing in Palm Springs, California, is close to the former president and maintains frequent contact with him. In addition to spending several months as Trump’s interim director of national intelligence, Grenell was also an ambassador to Germany in the Trump administration. Grenell campaigned aggressively for Trump’s re-election in 2020 and pushed the unfounded allegations of Trump fraud after the vote.
If he ran, Grenell would likely be supported by a substantial fundraising operation. He was a major attraction in Trump’s fundraising during the 2020 campaign, and many of the former president’s biggest contributors invited him to participate in the contest. But while Grenell’s relationship with Trump is likely to help him with Republican voters, it can be a complicating factor. The former president obtained just 34% of the vote in California in 2020, and Democrats have signaled that they are eager to focus a recall campaign on Trump, rather than questions about how Newsom handled the coronavirus pandemic.
Grenell is due to meet with high-value donors in Southern California next week, and he began to assemble what a person close to him described as an experienced fundraising team.
The recall organizers, who have explored the growing disapproval of Newsom’s treatment of the coronavirus pandemic, say they have collected 1.8 million signatures from Californians who support the recall. They are expected to send 1.5 million valid signatures to the California Secretary of State’s office by March 17 to qualify the withdrawal for the vote. They say they are trying to gather around 2 million or more because election officials will almost certainly find some signatures invalid.
If the recall reaches the ballot, California voters will be asked to vote on two issues – whether to withdraw Newsom and which candidate to replace him. The last revocation election for governor of California was in 2003, when Democrat Gray Davis was kicked out and replaced by actor and professional bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican.
Grenell would join a growing list of Republican candidates. Former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer launched a campaign, as did wealthy businessman John Cox, who lost to Newsom in 2018. Former deputy Doug Ose also said he is considering an offer.