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- Richard Grenell made a peculiar threat to Fiona Hill, she writes in her book.
- Hill says Grenell, then Trump's ambassador to Germany, threatened to fire her via Don Jr.
- A call to Don Jr. would have Hill and a colleague "sacked by tweet," she writes.
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Former President Donald Trump's ambassador to Germany threatened to call his son to have Fiona Hill "sacked by tweet," Hill writes in her new book.
Hill, who served as the Senior Director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council before departing in July 2019, recounts being so taken aback by the call from the ambassador, Richard Grenell, that she "had to write down and report in detail" what was said.
"He went on to accuse my office of leaking information to the press," Hill writes. "Then he threatened to call Donald Trump Jr., a close friend of his, to have me and a colleague 'sacked by tweet.'"
In her memoir "There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century," Hill illustrates the encounter as one of many instances where Trump and key figures in his administration conducted foreign policy outside of normal channels in order to bolster their own personal interests.
Grenell, along with Gordon Sondland – the former US Ambassador to the European Union who later became a key witness in Trump's first impeachment saga – were "directing US policy from Brussels and Berlin, respectively," she writes.
"They were following his explicit direction, they said," Hill continues. "They didn't take their cues from the State Department. They were Trump's personal plenipotentiaries."
In normal circumstances, a plenipotentiary is a diplomat authorized with full powers to sign treaties on behalf of their respective nation. Under Trump, Hill says that Sondland and Grenell "always invoked Trump's name or those of members of his family when pulling rank," leading to what she describes as conflicts of interest and a chaotic execution of foreign policy.
"Given Grenell's stated low opinion of me and my colleague, I wondered at first why he had bothered to call me. But it was abundantly clear that Grenell was simply livid that his personal agenda had been spotlighted and he wasn't immediately getting his own way," Hill writes.
"President Trump's personalization of the presidency and his hard-charging, no-holds-barred behavior was emulated by many of those around him in MAGA world," she continues.
Grenell's tenure as US ambassador to Germany was tumultuous from the start.
In May 2018, Grenell sparked criticism after he appeared to threaten German businesses operating in Iran in the wake of Trump's controversial decision to withdraw the US from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.
Two months later, Grenell caused an international incident by telling the far right outlet Breitbart he intended to "empower" conservatives in Europe.
"I absolutely want to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders," Grenell told Breitbart. "I think there is a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left."
Germany's foreign ministry at the time demanded that Grenell clarify his comments, and German politicians accused him of breaching diplomatic protocal. Diplomats are not supposed to engage in partisan politics or interfere in domestic issues in the countries they're posted in, and are generally meant to serve as politically neutral representatives of their home country.
After serving as the US ambassador in Germany, Grenell became Trump's acting director of national intelligence.