Rick Grinnell
Appearances
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
And there's a lot of them. And we want you to pay for them and bring them back home. And I want our hostages and we want to go down this road of getting back the Americans. And so the gift was a conversation, a hope of a different future and an American diplomat sitting there. And I am very clear eyed. that an American diplomat sitting with Maduro is a controversial thing.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
But I have to say that I think that we have to be able to talk. Talking is a tactic. It is not weakness. It is in the face of looking at someone else, pushing for the American agenda and not backing down. And I think there was a individual from the Biden administration on Twitter attacking me saying, oh, come on, they must have paid or switched Venezuelan hostages for that.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
And I say, no, actually. We're sending Venezuelans back to Venezuela, and we are absolutely giving no money, no hostage switch. It's called diplomacy, and it's what you do when you look at someone and you put America first and you make the arguments that this is what America wants.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
President Trump also recognizes that exact point. And so what we wanted to make clear on Thursday night before I left, nobody knew I was going to Venezuela the next morning. But in the Oval Office, we took a picture with President Trump. I then went to J.D. Vance's office and took a picture. And both of those, the president and the vice president, both those pictures were
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
were released Thursday night and very early Friday morning to send a message that this is our guy without actually saying anything specific.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Well, I knew that there's a whole bunch of issues with Venezuela and we got to continue tackling those. We've got North Korea. We've now got the California federal government's reaction to the fire. So I like to tell people, Megan, that I'm dealing with Nicolas Maduro, Kim Jong-un and Gavin Newsom.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Yeah, we're not. I don't know exactly if all of them have contacted their families. They had complicated issues. So I'm just not going to say their names.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Yeah, first of all, there are two different issues and I wouldn't blur them together. First of all, with Somalia and actually I would say a concern until a few weeks ago in Syria as well. We've defeated, Donald Trump defeated ISIS and we watched over the last four years with concern that ISIS may be trying to reconstitute. We've been very clear that we will not let that happen.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
ISIS is a horrible terrorist organization that has really gone after Christians. And so we've watched them very closely. And I think President Trump was very troubled by even them beginning to organize to come back. And so we have to be able to do this to keep ISIS at bay. This is the right thing to do. And we're watching where ISIS would begin to form in any possible way.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Separately, you know, President Trump is very credible when he talks about stopping fentanyl and drugs coming into our country. And so I think every single narco terrorist, every single country or individual or group that is facilitating drugs into our country, they should be on notice that Donald Trump absolutely wants to stop them and he will use all force necessary.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Well, first of all, big win from Secretary of State Marco Rubio for Donald Trump and for the American people. But I think there's a lot more that Secretary Rubio is going to deliver. No one has been better on China than Marco Rubio. He has been clear-eyed about their threat, and he's very concerned. of China's rise in Latin America, a region of the world that Marco Rubio knows extremely well.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
And so it doesn't surprise us that he's gonna get these wins, but this is just the beginning for the Western hemisphere and Marco Rubio and defeating China. He is very clear-eyed on this, President Trump wants us to all work on these issues. And so I think this is only the beginning.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
China and Russia have infiltrated not only through the Belt and Road Initiative in Eastern Europe, a place that I know well, but through Latin America and Central America. It's a huge concern. We've got to defeat them. It's some of the same issues in Venezuela.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
And so what we need to be able to recognize is that this is an administration that is gonna concentrate on America, what's best for America. We're not working for other countries, we're working for America and Americans. And when we're working around the world, We're trying to make sure that American businesses flourish, Americans are protected.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
All of these America first doctrines are what we have in mind. And I'm reminded watching Kristi Noem at the border this morning. You see J.D. Vance absolutely going back and figuring out what went wrong in Ohio, Palestine, Ohio. And so you really have a team of people that are focused on America and Americans, and I love it.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Well, look, this is a very complicated issue because we clearly, in putting America first, want to not waste our tax dollars. And USAID has been wasting our tax dollars. Just look for yourself at all of the different programs they've been spending money on. It will outrage you. J.D. Vance has been put in charge of this, and he will figure it out.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
There might be some core parts that need to go back under the State Department, but I think that's what J.D. Vance is going to figure out.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
All the best. Thank you.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Well, first of all, I have to say I'm still really emotional about what happened Friday. It was probably the highlight of my career to be able to represent America, to represent the president, and to watch what was happening in real time, to negotiate. Not only did we get the hostages back without paying a penny and without trading any hostages, which is really important.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
But we also got the Venezuelan government to bring their planes to the United States to take illegal immigrants in our country from Venezuela back to Venezuela. They are sending the planes, and they are paying for it. I think this is the new standard. It's pretty amazing. But the negotiations were obviously very secret. I left Friday morning super early.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
I went on an Air Force plane, had Air Force protection. The Air Force is amazing. They've got young people who just are totally committed and working in secret and working around the clock. We flew out of Washington, D.C. We landed in Caracas and made our way into the presidential palace. There hadn't been a White House official there in Caracas in a very long time.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
And I started negotiating with the Maduro team and then eventually with Nicolas Maduro. And it was pretty... amazing to be there and to negotiate on behalf of the U.S. But we had a clear mandate from President Trump. He knew he knew what he wanted. We knew what the parameters were and the pressure was on to deliver.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
first of all, to get the illegal immigrants in our country back to Venezuela. And they needed to accept all of these individuals, including the awful group, the Tren de Aragua. And we needed to make them realize that they had to take them back. And we went for everything by saying, you need to provide the planes. You need to pay for it. You need to come get them.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
And there are, you know, hundreds of thousands. And so there's going to be a big group going back to Caracas. And then the president wanted us to focus on the hostages. You know, there are 12 hostages Americans, at least. We may have found a couple of more while we were there that are, in essence, hostages. They're held on really lame charges. But we had a conversation about the individuals.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
It's the Venezuelans government position. It's Nicolas Maduro's position. that some of these individuals were arrested because of terrorism charges or individuals that were trying to kill the president of Venezuela or the vice president.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
And what I said to Nicolas Maduro very clearly, I said, look, if you've got evidence that individuals were trying to kill you or the vice president, those are serious issues. We should absolutely prosecute those individuals. We are with you on that. We agree on that. However, we need to share information because our information doesn't say that.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Our information says that some of these individuals were simply working in the military, a former Navy SEAL who didn't do anything wrong, but you're reading their background and pretending like they were there and sent there by the US government. We in the U.S.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
understand that there are millions of people who served in the military and who then leave the military and proudly carry their military experience with them as they go into life, whether they're vacationing in Colombia and going over the border accidentally into Venezuela, or meeting a woman that they were interested in for the weekend in Venezuela.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
These are all innocent human issues, and it's our job to explain that. So some of these individuals, it's going to take some time, but we are very focused on making the case and sharing the information to be able to get the others out But we did have six. We were able to successfully argue that these six were absolutely innocent. They're not political in nature and they deserve to come home.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
And we were able to picture. Yeah, it was pretty amazing.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Some of them were young, although the guy in the middle was young.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
I have to tell one story, Megan, that I haven't told anybody this publicly, and it's pretty remarkable. You'll see if you pull up that picture that four of them are in kind of their prison blue uniforms and two are in regular uniform. And what happened was we negotiated for six and the four in blue actually had said when we got on the plane, so they said, where are the other two?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
We were released into this room and we had the other two guys with us and they asked us to shave and to get ready, get cleaned up. And two of the individuals said, we're not doing this again. We've done this four or five times. This is fake. We're not doing this again. And they refused to follow the rules and get cleaned up.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
The other four did, and what ended up happening over time that we only learned later was that the Venezuelan government found two other Americans to replace them. They didn't have time to get everything together, so they were in their plain clothes, and that's why there are two others not in blue.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
It's heartbreaking to think that there were two individuals that could have been released, but they thought that once again, this was just a head fake from the Venezuelan government. And so they refused to play the game, not knowing, not realizing that this was for real.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Yeah, there's at least six. We think we found another two because we interviewed these individuals. As you can imagine, if you're in prison, one of the first things the State Department does is to say, who else is there? Are there other Americans? Give us information about who's there. And so we're working on that. We will absolutely go back.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Part of our work is to really push them to show the facts, right? Because these individuals are not terrorists. They're not trying to kill the president and the vice president. That's what the Venezuelans believe. So it's our job to convince them, show them the facts, and to actually dig in. This is what the Biden team didn't do. The Biden team didn't even send anyone to the prisons.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
These individuals that you're looking at They didn't even get a wellness check from the Biden administration. They had no idea what was going on. Is that protocol, Rick, to at least get a wellness check? Of course. Of course. That's what we do as American diplomats is to at least get wellness check and to say, do you have a lawyer? We're working on your case. Give them information.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
These individuals were completely in the dark. So much so, Megan, that when I what you you were showing that video of me walking out on the tarmac, we were on the tarmac for about two and a half hours waiting. And I didn't know if they kind of were not going to give us the individuals. We waited and waited and everybody on the plane, the Americans were.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
very nervous, I was nervous, what's gonna happen? When these cars pulled up and I was standing there for a little while, I saw the Sikhs were in individual cars. And I could see from across the tarmac that somebody got out of the car and they had a black hood over their head.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
And I just stood there thinking, this is an American, I'm an American diplomat, I have the Air Force behind me on an Air Force plane, And we can't just stand here while an American has a hood on his head and is shackled. And so I walked over there and each individual was being unhooded and unshackled to get on the plane. And I would say to each individual, get on the plane, get on the plane.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
I'm an American diplomat, go get on the plane right now. One individual, I think there's a picture of me hugging him. was standing in front of me with his black hood over his head. And as they took the hood off, he would later tell me, I had no idea where I was, what was happening, what was going to happen to me.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
But when he took his hood off, I looked at him and I said, I'm an American diplomat sent here by Donald Trump. I'm here to take you home. Get on the plane. And he broke into tears and hugged me. And I have to say, you know me. Personally, I'm an emotional person, but professionally, I'm not emotional at all. That's right. It doesn't matter what you say.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
In my life with my nephews and nieces, I can be the first softie. But professionally, I just don't have emotions. I go and I work. But in that moment, in my 25-year career, I felt emotion rush over me like never before. And I really had to hold back tears. And I just said, get on the plane. We're getting out of here. And he was the sixth. We got him on the plane.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
And as soon as we got in the air, they all clapped. And as soon as we landed in American soil, They all were incredibly grateful. One of them told me, you know, these guys, they have nothing. They didn't have shoelaces anymore. No phones, no clothing. It was freezing cold when we got back to Washington, D.C. And this guy looked at me and he said, I don't have much.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
But let me tell you, for the rest of my life, everything I have is yours. And I said, you don't owe me anything. You're an American. And we together do this. And we're bringing it home.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
Well, it's a really good question. And I think in diplomacy, what I've learned is you've got to show up, right? You've got to show up and talk. And so I was asked that question. President Maduro said to me, you know, OK, so we're going to give you these and now these are the things we want. And I said, no, we're giving you a huge gift.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: The Sphere of Ignorance (feat. Amin Elhassan and Felipe Esparza)
And the huge gift is that I am here sitting with you and you've got all sorts of cameras around and you're going to use this for propaganda purposes because an American diplomat is sitting here with you. And I get that. It is my job to let you know that we want a different relationship. We're going to put America first. We want the Venezuelans who are in our country illegally out.