Ric Grenell, the former deputy director of national intelligence, told Newsmax Thursday that he visited and spoke at the Kosovo-Serbia border as a private citizen concerned about the fact that the economic normalization reached under former President Donald Trump hasn't been implemented.
"We pushed the people of Kosovo and Serbia to work hard to implement these agreements through their government and as you know, this was a historic agreement," Grenell said in a phone call to Newsmax's "John Bachman Now."
"He did it by rejecting [old-style] politics and looked at how do we figure out economic development and jobs for people in the region. Instead of talking about politics, it was about how do you develop the economy," said Grenell. "That was a winning combination."
Trump, he added, was a "man of action in the Balkans when he was president."
Grenell added that Trump was "proud to be able to implement those agreements" and he thinks that the plans aren't happening under Biden because it's a matter of American leadership.
"I spent eight years at the UN and I can tell you that the U.S. certainly does not function without U.S. leadership," said Grenell. "The world looks to U.S. leadership and that doesn't mean sending boots on the ground. It means that you have to have diplomacy with muscle."
Trump, was able to "cut through the rhetoric, cut through the bureaucracy," unlike with Biden, where there is a lot of talk but not much action, said Grenell.
"They just don't have a handle on the issues, and it's not a priority for them to push through the economic agreement," said Grenell.
Grenell's comments came after Trump issued a statement Thursday saying that his "envoy ambassador" Grenell visited the Kosovo-Serbia border Thursday.
Grenell was named special envoy for the Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations by Trump in October 2019.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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