Former Vice President Kamala Harris will play a part in whether President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, considers running for California governor next year.
Grenell, former ambassador to Germany, told Politico’s Dasha Burns that if Harris chooses to run to replace term-limited Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, that will “have an influence” on his own decision.
“I want to see if Kamala runs. If Kamala runs, I think, you know, there’s a whole lot of Republicans who are going to have to take a look at it, not just me,” Grenell told Burns.
“If she runs, it’s going to make me have to take a look at it. Right now, I’m not running.”
Grenell, interim leader of the Kennedy Center, added that he recently discussed the gubernatorial scenario with Trump.
Newsmax reached out to Grenell for further comment on the possibility about running for governor but had not heard back.
Southern California has been in the news a lot during Trump’s nearly five months in office, largely due to January’s wildfires and anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests in Los Angeles.
Grenell and Newsom this week have gone back and forth on X after the Trump ally posted that the governor and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, “don’t care about the chaos” amid the LA protests following a report that California’s first lady was shopping in Beverly Hills on Monday.
“She came to Los Angeles to shop using her $4K purse,” Grenell posted on X early Wednesday. “@GavinNewsom and his wife don’t care about the chaos.”
Newsom’s representatives responded by saying a photo with the story about the state’s first lady was “from months ago — when the first partner was picking up skin care products. She is recovering from a past skin cancer diagnosis, you SICK people.”
Grenell doubled down.
“This is pathetic spin from @GavinNewsom’s wife,” Grenell wrote.
“Using a previous skin cancer diagnosis to explain why you are tone deaf to the LA riots is shameful.”
He added, “I had 5 rounds of R-CHOP chemotherapy for 18 weeks.”
“It’s offensive for the First Partner of California (this is the title she demands we use) to use cancer as a reason you need to be in Beverly Hills picking up skin care products while the riots are unfolding around you.”
Newsom’s office then wrote that the accusation about the first lady was “a straight up lie.”
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