Trump's Ex-Press Secretary Says Jared Kushner, Ivanka Acted as 'Shadow President, First Lady'
© AFP 2023 / ALEX EDELMAN
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Former Donald Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham appeared on CNN's New Day as part of a media tour for her new tell-all memoir, 'I'll Take Your Questions Now', published Tuesday, offering a sneak-peek at her White House stint.
Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham has claimed that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump “thought they were a shadow President and First Lady” throughout Donald Trump’s tenure in the Oval Office.
Grisham has offered up an unflattering assessment of the allegedly blasé couple that felt they could hire whomever they pleased, as she appeared on CNN’s New Day.
#BREAKING: Stephanie Grisham's Extensive Interview On CNN's New Day(Part 1) https://t.co/m4jBNWMCAk
— Emoluments Clause (@Emolclause) October 6, 2021
Trump’s third press secretary and sixth communications director to then-First Lady Melania Trump has been on a media tour promoting her new book of memoirs, “I'll Take Your Questions Now”, released on Tuesday.
In this file photo former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham listens as US President Donald Trump speaks to the media aboard Air Force One while flying between El Paso, Texas and Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, August 7, 2019. - An aide dubbed the "Music Man" was tasked with playing calming tunes for Donald Trump when he went into rages, according to a scandal-filled book by a former press secretary.Stephanie Grisham, notorious for not giving a single televised press conference while serving as Trump's chief spokeswoman, writes in "I'll Take Your Questions Now" that her boss went into "terrifying" rants.The former president and his wife Melania have vociferously condemned the book, excerpts of which appeared on September 28, 2021 in The New York Times and Washington Post.
© AFP 2023 / SAUL LOEB
Grisham, who was famously the first White House press secretary to hold no press conferences, preferring interviews for news outlets, described the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner as “Rasputin in a slim-fitting”. She claimed in the interview that he “changed as we went through the White House. And he got really heady with power” during his four years as Trump's senior White House adviser.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner look on as U.S President Donald Trump places a wreath on the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a tour of Westminster Abbey in central London, Monday, June 3, 2019. Trump is on a three-day state visit to Britain
© AP Photo / Stefan Rousseau
Grisham, who served as Press Secretary from 2017 to 2019 and became Chief of Staff and Press Secretary to Melania Trump from 2020 to 2021, offered her take on the role that Kushner played.
“He did what he wanted and nobody challenged him,” she noted, adding that Ivanka Trump’s husband hired his own Chief of Staff. Despite then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows establishing a hiring freeze without his authorisation, Jared Kushner “basically told him what he thought of that and got to do what he wanted”, insisted Grisham.
“Nobody ever challenged Jared,” she said. Grisham criticised Kushner for ostensibly venturing into policy areas he was unqualified to deal with, seeking to “save the day”.
Jared Kushner "would dive into these areas where I know he had absolutely no expertise and ... claim to save the day, and then he would leave," ex-Trump Press Sec. Stephanie Grisham says. "I believe that he and Ivanka kind of thought they were a shadow president and first lady." pic.twitter.com/0cGX68JxTg
— New Day (@NewDay) October 5, 2021
However, she claims that when “things were getting really tough”. he and Donald Trump’s eldest daughter would “suddenly disappeared on vacations”.
In this Saturday, May 20, 2017, file photo, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, right, walks with Ivanka Trump at the Royal Court Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
© AP Photo / Evan Vucci
In Stephanie Grisham’s telling, unpaid White House adviser Ivanka Trump was the “brains” of the couple. According to her, aides to Donald Trump had referred to his daughter as “the princess”.
“Ivanka is very, she's very controlling of her image, she's very controlled in what she does, she is very calm, which is unlike her father, and I think that she's the smarter one,” said Grisham.
Stephanie Grisham offered more revealing titbits about the power couple in her new 352-page memoir.
What We Learned from Stephanie Grisham's Trump Tell-All, I'll Take Your Questions Now https://t.co/80VjqbTu7s pic.twitter.com/n9CGPL6P8W
— Marco Franci Lazzari (@StyleSpikeIT) October 5, 2021
According to her, Ivanka and Jared tried to insinuate themselves into Donald and Melania Trump's meeting with Queen Elizabeth II during the Trumps' state visit to the UK in June 2019.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II greets President Donald Trump, center, and first lady Melania Trump, left, with Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall during a ceremonial welcome in the garden of Buckingham Palace in London, Monday, June 3, 2019 on the opening day of a three day state visit to Britain
© AP Photo / Frank Augstein
They purportedly undertook a similar effort during Trump’s February 2020 state trip to India where he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“They were involved in like tours that Modi was giving the former president and first lady and there they were to, you know, they were always right there and it was really inappropriate and that would make Mrs. Trump upset because she is a big rule follower in terms of protocol,” claimed Grisham.
She also noted that nobody could stop the “power-hungry” couple. “At the end of the day, it's his daughter and son-in-law and nobody could work around him,” concluded Grisham.
