Richard Grennell and David Friedman emerge as frontrunners for U.N. ambassador position

Richard Grennell and David Friedman are emerging as the leading candidates for the post of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (UN). Although Donald Trump initially nominated Elise Stefanik, he decided to withdraw her nomination in order to preserve the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

"As we advance our America First Agenda, it is essential that we maintain every Republican seat in Congress. We must be unified to accomplish our mission, and Elise Stefanik has been a vital part of our efforts from the very beginning. I have asked Elise, as one of my greatest allies, to remain in Congress. (...) With a very tight majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat," Trump said in late March.

Currently, Republicans have a majority of 218 members in the House against the Democrats' 213. Therefore, Mike Johnson can only afford to lose two Republicans on any vote to maintain that majority. This is assuming full attendance, since if one member votes "present," the magic number would be lower.

In this context, the president was asked in the Oval Room about the top choices to fill the seat. While he said he had many choices, he made special mention of two people in particular.

"I can tell you that for the replacement, we have a lot of people that have asked about it and would like to do it. David Friedman, Ric Grenell, and maybe 30 other people. Everyone loves that position. That’s a star-making position. And so we’ll see what happens," he said.

Coincidentally, both are diplomats with experience in the first Trump administration, although Grennell has also been very active since the Republican's return to the White House. Between 2017 and 2021, Grennell served as ambassador to Germany and special presidential envoy for peace negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo. Since January of this year, he has been serving as presidential envoy for special missions, which led him, for example, to travel to Venezuela to meet with Nicolas Maduro.

On the other hand, Friedman is a lawyer who served as ambassador to Israel during the entirety of the first Trump Administration, one of the most important diplomatic positions in U.S. foreign policy.