Jeffrey Ross Gunter got a prestigious post as U.S. ambassador to Iceland after donating big bucks to Donald Trump.
Now his rocky tenure on the volcanic island could hamstring his campaign for the U.S. Senate from Nevada.
Gunter oversaw a ‘threatening’ environment at the embassy, then stayed away and worked from home for a time – on the other side of the Atlantic – during a peak of the pandemic.
Gunter has declared himself ‘110% Pro Trump’ and now finds himself in a Senate primary taking on Army veteran Sam Brown, who is backed by the party’s Senate campaign arm, and other contenders in a critical tossup race.
He landed in Reykjavic after donating $100,000 to the Trump Victory PAC and $100,000 to the Trump Inaugural Committee, in a well-worn path to diplomatic service.
Nevada Senate candidate Jeff Gunter served as ambassador to Iceland during the Trump administration. An Inspector General’s report shortly after he left cited a ‘threatening’ environment
With the GOP’s prospects to take down incumbent Democrat Jackie Rosen on the line, Gunter’s fiery and unusual diplomatic tenure is getting a second look, in an illustration of the forces striving for primacy in the GOP amid a push to reclaim the Democratic Senate.
Among a series of odd incidents, Gunter, who calls himself a strong Second Amendment backer, sought permission to carry a gun in the low-crime country, while fellow diplomats accused him of being ‘paranoid’ about his security.
‘I was sworn to protect America and American lives in Iceland,’ he told DailyMail.com through his spokeswoman.
He got confirmed to his post after meeting Trump in 2015, making big donations to support him. The dermatologist whose business includes a string of clinics revealed during his confirmation hearing he hadn’t been to Iceland when he was nominated. Now, he is promising to implement an ‘America first’ foreign policy.
An IG report after he left found top staff ‘focused on rebuilding staff morale and normalising embassy operations following the former Ambassador’s tenure,’ and noted he was a ‘non-career’ appointee.
It was a tenure that was still causing aftershocks in the embassy even after he returned to the U.S., after burning through to staff.
Gunter is in a crowded field challenging Sam Brown, an Army vet who was injured in Afghanistan who was defeated in his primary bid against Trump ally Adam Laxalt in 2022
Gunter held a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago that featured a drop-by from Trump, who has not endorsed in the race. Laura Loomer and former Rep. Lee Zeldin were there
The AG chided Gunter for his reliance on social media. He took some flack in-country for his post about the ‘China Virus,’ which echoed one by Trump
Gunter’s Twitter page features images of Trump. Gunter says he will implement ‘America First’ diplomacy
The Senate campaign arm has already gotten behind Brown, who was defeated by Adam Laxalt in the 2022 primary and who is the leading GOP candidate this year
Gunter’s run (he is seen here with radio host Leo Terrell) comes in a race where Donald Trump could once again play a pivotal role
‘Despite several months having elapsed since his departure, OIG found at the time of the inspection that embassy staff were still recovering from what they described as a threatening and intimidating environment created by the former Ambassador,’ according to the 2021 report by career investigators.
Auditors mentioned ‘multiple instances’ where staff reported he had ‘threatened to sue Department officials’ and staff who disagreed with him, questioned his wishes, or were ‘perceived as “disloyal” to him.’ They said he threatened reprisal.
He ‘flew into a rage’ at one official who left snow boots under their desk in winter, and accused others of being part of the ‘deep state,’ CBS reported in 2020. Gunter denies the accusation and claims the mud-slinging came from people with Democratic ties.
That all came during a posting where he leaned heavily on ‘social media outreach’ over more traditional engagement with locals at a time when Trump was lighting up Twitter and infuriating his rivals.
Officials in the public diplomacy section ‘typically spent several hours working with the former Ambassador to produce a single social media post’ they told investigators after he left.
That included a Facebook ad featuring the ambassador posing with actor Orlando Bloom.
His post with actor Orlando Bloom drew criticism amid local complaints about getting access to the consulate. The IG report accuses his embassy of relying too much on social media and said staff would spend hours on an individual post
But that online post came at a time when the consulate was closed amid the start of the COVID pandemic, and didn’t go over well with all the locals. One wrote an angry post calling for him to be expelled after he retweeted a Trump Tweet and called for unity to ‘defeat the Invisible China virus!’
Trump in his own July tweet had stated: ‘We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus.’
‘The ambassador is a man who echoes the same damaging rhetoric of the Trump administration which has endangered Americans in America by inflaming racial tensions, conflating conspiracies with science, and prolonging an epidemic,’ wrote American expat Grace Claiborn Barbörudóttir.
As a candidate, Gunter touts a Trump retweet that got thousands of posts as among his accomplishments.
Officials said he tried to work from home in California rather than returning to Iceland. Politico reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told him to return to Iceland during the pandemic, something his spokeswoman disputed.
He’s ‘the only ambassador I’ve ever heard of who tried to work remote from his home in California,’ said one national GOP strategist.
Among the group of ‘political’ ambassadors, usually donors, there are some who have problems that rise to the level of needing the attention of senior diplomatic staff in Washington.
There are also ‘the ones that rose to Pompeo level. And that’s when it was bad. And I do remember that this made it all the way up to the secretary,’ a former State Department aide during the Trump Administration told DailyMail.com.
‘Among senior staff it was like, WTF – what’s happening?’ said the aide.
‘Pompeo did not order Ambassador Gunter anywhere,’ said spokeswoman Erica Knight, who has spoken to him about it. ‘U.S. ambassadors answer to the president of the United States,’ he told her. The physician was trying to keep people safe ‘as bodies were piling up in Italy’ early in the pandemic.
According to team Gunter, he was back in D.C. for an ambassadors conference, then went on a planned two-day vacation. He was scheduled to fly back to Siganella Air Station in Italy when the pandemic forced him to cancel his trip. His embassy worked remotely ‘out of an abundance of caution.’
He flew back May 22, chartering a plane ‘on his own dime’ when he couldn’t get a commercial flight.
Republicans are salivating at the chance to knock off Democratic Sen. Jackie Rosen, who just committed to a record $14 million ad buy in the state amid tough polling numbers. Contenders include Brown, an Army vet who suffered burn wounds in Afghanistan, former secretary of state nominee GOP Rep. Jim Marchant, and former lieutenant governor candidate Tony Grady.
Trump-backed Republican Adam Laxalt lost his 2022 race to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) by less than 8,000 votes.
Gunter’s own financial commitment to the race is coming under question. He told Fox News he was making his own $3.3 million ad buy, but the Cook Political Report said there is no evidence he had done so yet.
His camp says the bookings are set to start appearing on the 10th.
The longtime California resident who was previously registered as a Democrat in the state has given to a raft of Republicans besides Trump, including critics like Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Trump nemesis former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney – although that came back in 2016.
His online ads have accused Brown, who endorsed Trump in January, of being a ‘RINO’ and a ‘never-Trumper,’ which he firmly denies.
As in primaries across the country, the outcome will be shaped by the looming presence of Trump, who is on the way to the GOP presidential nomination.
Gunter held a fundraiser last month at Mar-a-Lago, and Trump stopped by the event – even asking a crowd that included former Rep. Lee Zeldin and right wing activist Laura Loomer if he should endorse Gunter (the Gunter supporters said he should, according to his team).
The candidate has prominently included images of the two men together at the club on his Twitter page, even without an endorsement.
‘President Trump knows exactly who the America First candidate is in this race,’ Gunter wrote on his page. A source said that this week ‘people surrounding Trump have advised against supporting Sam [Brown] and they do not like Sam.’
Even a few years out of office with his tumultuous tenure behind him, Gunter hasn’t forgotten how to salute the man who elevated him.
‘And like I told President Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the strength and conviction I have to win this race is because of his courage. It was an honor to serve as his ambassador and I’ll be his closest ally in the U.S. Senate,’ he said.