Richard Grenell assiduously rejected an anonymously sourced report linking him to President Donald Trump’s campaign, calling it “fake news.”
Grenell was the acting director of national intelligence before being replaced Tuesday. He’s also leaving his position as U.S. ambassador to Germany.
Citing two people familiar with the matter, Politico claimed Grenell is poised to join Trump’s campaign for reelection. The people were not named and no other identifying information about the sources was published.
Grenell quickly denounced the story as “fake news,” accusing the reporters involved of not checking with him before writing.
“The entire story isn’t true,” he said.
In a statement to The Epoch Times, Politico spokesman Brad Dayspring said, “We stand by our reporting.”
“Though Mr. Grenell failed to respond to multiple requests for comment prior to publication, we encourage him to do so and to detail what specific facts he believes are inaccurate in the story. We will certainly update the story to include them,” he added.
The statement came after a back and forth between Dayspring and Grenell.
Dayspring told Grenell on Twitter that “multiple high-level sources” confirmed the story and suggested the article was true despite the strident denials, prompting Grenell to respond: “Your response is scary—you don’t believe the campaign denial nor mine. But claim you have some anonymous source. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?”
Dayspring then told Grenell to state specifically what Grenell believes is untrue. “Is your next job going to be on the Trump campaign? Yes or no?” Dayspring wrote.
“No. Delete the story, it’s false,” Grenell said.
Brad Parscale, the campaign manager for Trump’s campaign, said he likes Grenell and is friends with him “but this story isn’t true.”
“Just more garbage of people making sensational claims,” he said.
Politico didn’t answer a question on whether it had any information about the alleged campaign hire besides the word of the two people it’s refusing to name.
