Ambassador and U.S. Envoy for Special Missions Ric Grenell appeared on the CPAC stage for a conversation with Politico White House Bureau Chief Dasha Burns to discuss the many hats he wears in the Trump 47 administration. They began with his latest role as interim executive director of the Kennedy Center. President Donald Trump asked Grenell to take on the role after Trump fired the board and appointed himself as Chairman. 

Grenell said, "We want to 'Make Art Great Again.'" Burns asked what exactly that meant. Grenell explained: 

I think, I don't know for sure, but I think the frustration President Trump has is that the Kennedy Center has no cash on hand. No reserves. And they have been paying for the salaries with the debt reserves. While taking around more than 40 million dollars in public money. You can't have that. If you're going to take public money, then you get to have public input.

So, what we're gonna say at the Kennedy Center, first of all, we gotta clean up the financial situation. We have to do the big productions that the masses and the public want to see. We want to have really big programming.

Grenell announced in December that the Kennedy Center will do a "big huge celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas." Though Grenell did not confirm this, War Room host Steve Bannon shared Thursday on the CPAC stage that the J6 Prison Choir, a group of men who were previously imprisoned for their supposed crimes on January 6, would also perform at the Kennedy Center. 

Grenell also cleared up some misinformation about an artist who supposedly dropped out from performing on the Kennedy Center stage because Trump took over the center and installed Grenell. Grenell made it known that some of these decisions were made before Trump took over, and the decision to drop the act was based on the performance not producing adequate ticket sales.

"Right now if you're going to take public money, you're going to have to prove you can bring in revenue. We don't have any money," Grenell said. He also confirmed that the former Kennedy Center executive director was being paid $1.3 million a year. Grenell said he is being paid "way, way, way less."

Burns pivoted to Grenell's envoy hat, focusing on the Ukraine War and the seemingly strained relationship with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump. Grenell debunked the "hue and cry" from Europe and Zelensky because the Trump administration reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin, when the Trump administration had met with Zelensky multiple times. Burns pushed back with the fact that the Russians were the aggressors and that Trump was making "false claims" that Zelensky started the war.

Grenell said: 

I think what President Trump is saying, very clearly, is we have to stop this war. He is somebody who is concentrating on saying to both sides, let's talk to both sides and figure out how we stop this. Again, we have terrible choices because of the Biden team. There's not a lot of great choices. And so, yeah, is there frustration that things are not perfect in Ukraine right now? Yeah, but I'm a little bit annoyed that we were handed a file that was war, when we handed them a file that was peace. And so, I do think that we're frustrated.

This elicited loud applause from the audience. Burns still insisted that Trump's claims were unnecessary. Grenell pushed back:

I think the American people are really frustrated with Zelensky [...] I think that there's a big frustration that he is not making great choices for peace. And again, when the American people are spending hundreds of billions of dollars, there's a frustration.  

Grenell delved into the backstory before the Ukraine war. The Biden administration knew of the potential for war between Russia and Ukraine, but planned to pour money into it rather than work diplomatically to prevent it from happening.

Burns asked what choices did Grenell think Zelensky should be making to bring an end to the war. Grenell began with how some of that hundreds of billions of dollars distributed is now missing without any accountability. 

I don't think talking means that you're weak. I think talking is a tactic in order to get to a goal [...] We need to be able to have these conversations with the Russians.

[...]

Again, I go back to the fact that we had it perfect in terms of peace. We were handed a war, and now we're being criticized of, "well how do you dig us out of a war, and you're not doing it fast enough and you're not doing it fair enough." So we're a little frustrated. 

Like a broken record, Burns continued to push about Trump's social media comments about Zelensky and asked if Grenell believed Zelensky was a dictator.

"I think when you reject having elections, and you're not moving toward that way, the people get angry about that," Grenell said. 

The audience erupted in raucous applause. 

Burns then asked Grenell if Putin was a dictator. Grenell said, "Of course. Yeah, of course."

Burns attempted to pivot, but Grenell interrupted to delineate the differences between Trump's foreign policy and past Republican administrations. 

We articulate very clearly under Donald Trump: We don't do regime change. We are going to deal with the countries that are in front of us. And our criteria is, not how do we make that country better, how do we make America better, stronger, more prosperous for the people here.  

This rendered more applause from the audience.

Burns was able to pivot to Israel, the Palestinians, and the Gaza Strip and how getting involved in the Middle East worked with Make America Great Again. Grenell reminded her that Trump did deliver peace by moving the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem and the Abraham Accords. Grenell also reassured that Trump has done it before, and he's "going to have to do it again now thanks to the Biden regime." 

Burns asked if America still had a role to play in peace in the Middle East. Grenell said, "What I think the thinking and the criteria is how do we deliver peace." Burns asked how this dovetailed with the America First agenda and President Trump's promise that he would not get America into any more foreign entanglements. 

Yes, but that doesn't immediately mean we jump to boots on the ground[...]

When you talk about security assurances, stop assuming that security assurances are just simply American boots or UN boots and guns. I can't think of a better security assurance than private equity folks on the ground. American businessmen on the ground. Trying to do deals and help rebuild. Or help bring economic development. If you've got a bunch of Americans or Westerners even that are in Ukraine, that are in the Black Sea doing economic development, I can't think of a better way to have a security assurance.

Burns switched up to the California wildfires, and Grenell's role as an envoy to see that the recovery effort and aid given to the wildfire victims would happen. Grenell let Burns know that the aid would definitely come with conditions.

The reality is that the federal response is mostly money. So, we are going to have strings on the money we give to California. They've made terrible... There will be conditions. We're talking about those conditions now. As a Californian, I'm all for it, because I don't have faith that if we went back and we gave California hundreds of millions of dollars, they wouldn't go back to their same old ways of not giving enough water, having dangerous situations on the ground when it comes to forestry. It's going to happen again.

Burns tried to coax the details of these "strings." Grenell was reluctant to reveal too much. He did say, "Everyone whose involved knows that the California Coastal Commission is a disaster, and it needs to absolutely be defunded." 

And from just a way to think about government, we already have local government making these decisions. Layering it on with the California Coastal Commission is a terrible idea. It's an unelected group of people who are crazy, woke Left. And one person can stop progress. And they've made California less safe. I think squeezing their federal funds, making sure they don't get funds, putting strings on them to get rid of the California Coastal Commission is going to make California better.

Burns' final question was whether Grenell had plans to run for California Governor in 2026. The audience cheered in approval.

Honestly, it's not in my plans unless Kamala Harris runs for governor. If Kamala runs... If Kamala runs...

You're jumping in? Burns interjected.

 I mean, here's the thing: we already know who she is. We've spent hundreds of millions of dollars to define who Kamala Harris is. If she's going to run, a Republican is going to win and I may not be able to resist trying to run against her.

This also elicited loud applause from the audience. News broken at CPAC 2025. And for Californians, a good time to get out the popcorn.