Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, met with officials at the White House last week to discuss the job, according to two administration officials. | Daniel Bockwoldt/AFP/Getty Images White House Trump considering Richard Grenell for U.N. ambassador

President Donald Trump is now seriously considering Richard Grenell, the controversial U.S. ambassador to Germany, to replace Nikki Haley at the United Nations, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Trump initially seemed to rule out choosing Grenell for the job, telling reporters he’d prefer to keep him in Germany. “Ric is doing so well that I wouldn’t want to move him,” the president told reporters last week shortly after Haley announced her plans to step down by the end of the year.


But in recent days, several of Trump’s closest advisers have put forward Grenell’s name again, pointing to his seven-year stint as the United States’ U.N. spokesman.

Grenell visited the White House earlier this month, according to two administration officials. (Grenell also tweeted a photo of himself in the Oval Office with Trump on Oct. 3.) At a separate White House meeting on Wednesday, several members of the president’s national security team mentioned Grenell’s name when asked to recommend their favored candidates for the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. position, two other administration officials said.

Grenell is close to Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton. The two men worked together when Bolton served as ambassador to the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration. Grenell has also earned the affection of Trump and his family. “The president really likes him,” one former senior White House official said.

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A White House official confirmed that Grenell’s name is now on Trump’s list of contenders for the job. “He’s a house favorite,” another White House official said.

But aides also cautioned that Trump is speaking to a broad swath of candidates for the job and that the process remains fluid. They warned that the internal dynamics could change. Trump has said he hopes to make a final decision in the coming weeks.

Trump had been urged by advisers to choose a woman for the role. But one of the White House officials said the president is not thinking about his pick in those terms, saying he is more focused on finding the best candidate for the job.

The Senate in April confirmed Grenell as ambassador to Germany by a 56-42 vote over objections from prominent Democrats that some of his past commentary disqualified him for the post.

“There are times where what was intended to be humorous turned out to be not so humorous,” he told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last September.

Since becoming ambassador, Grenell has ruffled feathers in Berlin. German politicians recoiled after he told Breitbart in an interview that he hoped to “empower other conservatives throughout Europe.”

Trump is considering several other candidates for the job, including Kelly Knight Craft, U.S. ambassador to Canada, and Jamie McCourt, U.S. ambassador to France and Monaco. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert was also briefly under consideration , but an administration official said she would not unlikely be chosen.

Eliana Johnson contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story reported that Grenell visited the White House the week of Oct. 15. The exact date of his visit could not be determined.