Trump loyalist Ric Grenell’s influence inside the White House has reportedly hit a wall after a behind-the-scenes turf war ended with him frozen out in favor of the president’s top diplomat.
Marco Rubio, 54—once a Donald Trump critic—has positioned himself as the public face of the president’s Venezuela strategy after U.S. forces seized Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, with the secretary of state publicly warning the Venezuelan leader’s allies: “Don’t play games.”
But behind the scenes, The Wall Street Journal reports, a months-long clash has been underway between Rubio and Grenell, 59, the Trump special envoy who had initially been sent to negotiate with Maduro. Grenell, the interim president of the Kennedy Center and Trump’s ambassador to Germany in his first term, had unsuccessfully lobbied for Trump to pick him as secretary of state before Rubio was tapped for the role.
Grenell pushed for engagement with Venezuelan leadership—seeking prisoner releases, deportation flights, and access to the country’s oil and mineral reserves—while Rubio argued for a harder line, according to the Journal’s account.
Rubio’s internal standing was strengthened by Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, 40, who the Journal said became a key partner as Rubio framed Maduro’s removal around Trump’s domestic priorities of drugs, deportations, and regional dominance.
The Journal reports that Rubio later began regular sit-downs with Miller, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine as officials drafted options to remove Maduro.
With Grenell now sidelined from the high-stakes arena, his most visible platform has become the Kennedy Center, where he has spent days lashing out at artists bailing on performances after Trump’s name was slapped onto the venue’s signage.
After Grammy-winning musician Béla Fleck pulled out of shows in February, Grenell blamed a “woke mob” and insisted the venue should be bipartisan. He also called reports of Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz’s planned appearance “totally bogus,” even as the Washington National Opera confirmed an email agreement.
Rubio, on the other hand, having emerged as the administration’s top man after the Venezuela raid, and going on TV to insist Washington is “running policy” there, is now heavily ensconced in Trump’s foreign policy plans. They include his “Don-roe Doctrine” threats towards Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, and Greenland.
The Daily Beast has contacted Grenell, via the Kennedy Center, and the White House for comment.
