Neither Grenell nor a Trump spokesman responded to requests for comment.
Trump should not yet weigh the recall effort in public, although many of his strongest supporters have made it clear that they support Newsom’s removal. Former Trump assistant Mercedes Schlapp, the wife of CPAC chief Matt Schlapp, remarked on stage on Saturday morning that Grenell would “become a great governor of California.”
The 54-year-old Grenell, a resident of Palm Springs, California, is close to the former president and is in regular contact with him. In addition to spending several months as Trump’s acting director of national intelligence, he was also Germany’s ambassador to the Trump administration. Grenell aggressively campaigned for the re-election of Trump in 2020 and after the vote pushed Trump’s unfounded allegations of fraud.
If he were to act, Grenell would likely be supported by a substantial fundraising campaign. He was a key attraction at Trump fundraisers during the 2020 campaign, and many of the former president’s biggest contributors asked him to take part in the contest. But while Grenell’s relationship with Trump is likely to help him with Republican voters, it could be a complicating factor. The former president received just 34 percent of the vote in California in 2020, and Democrats have indicated they want to focus a recall campaign on Trump instead of questions about how Newsom handled the coronavirus pandemic.
Grenell is expected to meet high-dollar donors in Southern California next week, and he has begun meeting what describes one person close to him as an experienced fundraising team.
Recall organizers, who used the growing disapproval of Newsom’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, say they have collected 1.8 million signatures from Californians who support the recall. They must submit 1.5 million valid signatures to the California Secretary of State by March 17 to qualify for the revocation of the vote. They say they are trying to raise about 2 million or more because election officials are almost certain that some signatures are invalid.
If the recall were to go to the polls, California voters would be asked to vote on two questions – whether they should recall Newsom, and which candidate should replace him. The last California government election was in 2003, when Democrat Gray Davis started and was replaced by actor and professional bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican.
Grenell would join a growing list of Republican rivals. Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has launched a campaign, as has wealthy businessman John Cox, who lost badly to Newsom in 2018. Former representative Doug Ose also said he was weighing a bid.