Russia-Ukraine war: Grenell rips into Biden administration, State Department over crisis

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State Department urging Americans in Ukraine to escape through Poland immediately

Trey Yingst reports from Kyiv, Ukraine, as Biden administration warns Russian invasion could come at any moment.

Former United States Ambassador Richard Grenell spoke to radio host Jason Rantz Saturday about what he claims is a crisis of competency within the State Department. 

Grenell laid into the Biden administration's appointments to the department, calling its two leaders out by name as weak and ineffective.

"The Biden appointees at the State Department are an abject failure," Grenell told Rantz on the show. "They have failed in their negotiations with North Korea, Iran, now with Russia."

Grenell slammed Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman during the interview.

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"I think the first thing is we gotta make sure that Wendy Sherman or Tony Blinken are not our negotiators. I mean, it's really bad," Grenell added. 

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman answers a question from a reporter while speaking on the situation in Afghanistan at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Aug. 18, 2021.  (Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS)

"Wendy Sherman has the nickname 'What Do Ya Want Wendy;' when she negotiates, she gives everything away," Grenell said. "Antony Blinken is starry eyed and doesn't understand his opponent. So I think we gotta start demanding that the people we put forward to negotiate for us are tough diplomats. I'm tired of having the State Department pushed aside."

Grenell clarified that he did not believe this was a problem unique to the Biden administration, saying that the department is "filled" with similarly inept socialites instead of hard-nosed diplomats.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses the United Nations Security Council Feb. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

"There is this understanding that the State Department is just filled with a bunch people who speak multiple languages and know restaurants around the world and are good at dining out," Grenell said.

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Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News Friday that Blinken has consulted with him, and while the two have a "very different worldview," they have a "shared desire" to make the United States "strong and great."

During an interview with Fox News on the sidelines of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday, Pompeo criticized the Biden administration’s foreign policy approach but said he is hoping for its success.

"I am rooting for the Biden administration to be successful — in spite of my critique and my enormous concerns about the policies that they’ve chosen," Pompeo told Fox News. "I want them to be successful."

Fox News's Brooke Singman contributed to this report.