Grisham endorsed Harris in the presidential race. She disowned her former boss in a speech at the Democratic National Convention. “I love my country more than my party,” she said.
Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham endorsed Kamala Harris for president. She said this during a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Behind the scenes
She said that she was not only a Trump supporter, but a “true believer.”
I saw him when the cameras were off, behind closed doors. Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers,” she said.
Grisham shared several stories from her time working with Trump. This includes a story about him visiting a hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. People were dying in the ICU.
“He was mad that the cameras were not watching him. Trump has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth,” she said. “He used to tell me, ‘It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie — say it enough and people will believe you.’ But it does matter — what you say matters, and what you don’t say matters.”
Trump campaign officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Grisham said that on Jan. 6, 2021, she asked Melania Trump if they could tweet that while peaceful protest is every American’s right, “there’s no place for lawlessness or violence.”
“She responded with one word: ‘No,'” she said. “I became the first senior staffer to resign that day. I couldn’t be part of the insanity any longer.”
Grisham also spoke about the criticism that followed her. She was then press secretary, and she had never held a White House briefing in that role.
“It’s because, unlike my boss, I never wanted to stand at that podium and lie,” she said. “Now here I am behind a podium advocating for a Democrat, and that’s because I love my country more than my party. Kamala Harris tells the truth. She respects the American people, and she has my vote.”
Who is Grisham?
She served as Trump’s White House communications director and press secretary from July 2019 to April 2020. She has since become Melania Trump’s press secretary and chief of staff.
With her speech, Grisham wanted to reach out to undecided voters. She wants to convey that she understands what it’s like to believe in Trump.
But she praised Democrats for promoting unity. It’s important to “talk to each other as human beings again.”
Grisham also admired Harris’ campaign. She agrees that people’s freedoms are being taken away. This includes not only abortion rights, but also access to birth control.
“I really believe, a lot of people — especially Republican women — are going to vote for Kamala but maybe not tell their husbands,” Grisham said
Shortly after January 6, Grisham began cooperating with the House committee investigating the insurrection. In October 2021, she said she tried to leave the White House “a couple of times,” but Melania Trump convinced her to stay.
“Jan. 6, of course, was my breaking point. And I was really proud that I was, well, the first in the administration to resign.””