Donald Trump appears to draw an interesting crowd of people to him. They tend to be very loyal, but they also tend to have a checkered past. There are the ones either in federal prison or awaiting sentencing. How about a handful of spouse abusers, plus various other criminal actors? Now, there is this woman.
The new White House Press Secretary and Communications Director for both the president and the first lady is Stephanie Grisham, 43.
Melania Trump saw her in action during the 2016 presidential campaign and snatched her up. When Mrs. Trump’s husband ended up with no one to fill former press Secretary Sarah Sander’s shoes, the president’s wife offered to share Grisham with him.
According to The New York Times, Grisham “has shown a willingness to assail those who displease the president:”
‘[And] mixed toughness and loyalty to her bosses with professional scrapes, ethical blunders and years spent alternately wooing and pounding the press on behalf of scandal-prone Arizona Republicans.’
In 2011, she was a spokeswoman for Tom Horne Arizona’s attorney general and also worked on Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. After a botched state execution where the prisoner did not die for two hours after the injection, she passed the incident off as the prisoner as “snoring,” and it was quite peaceful.”
She became a spokeswoman for the Arizona House’s Republican majority leader. In 2016, reporter for The Arizona Capitol Times Hank Stephenson wrote a piece about her and said:
‘She’s fun. She has a reputation as someone who puts out fires. But she starts a number of fires herself.’
Stephenson also wrote about the House Speaker David Gowan who had expensed his travel to the Arizona taxpayers. He made the Legislative reporters do a personal and criminal background check. Anyone with convictions “for serious crimes — and coincidentally — misdemeanor trespass — would be barred from the House floor.”
Grisham called it a “security measure.” Only Stephenson had a trespassing charge on his record when he was involved in a tavern event. The reporters refused, and Gown gave in.
Grisham herself was arrested for “driving under the influence, speeding, and driving with an invalid license,” in 2013. The charges were reduced in 2014 to “reckless driving.”
In 2015, Grisham was arrested again. for driving under the influence. She pled guilty and paid her fine. In August 2016 after her second offense, the court ordered her to attend a treatment program
Her first year working for the Trumps, Grisham launched a Be Best “anti-cyberbullying, anti-opioid program.” However, a Be Best guide named Talking with Kids About Being Online had been developed by the last administration in 2009. She fought the plagiarism charge.
During an Arizona television interview, Grisham said:
‘I’ve always had a picture of the White House and it would always sit right in front of my desk [in the Arizona Capitol.] Whenever I was having a hard day I could look at it and remember what my goal was.’
White House aide Hannah Salem told The Times that Grisham has been “a cool-headed, encouraging presence: “
‘When we were tired, she’d tell us, “Keep going.” She was one of our biggest cheerleaders on the road.’
Arizona media attorney David Bodney knows Grisham well:
‘[She] gets a lot of praise for being loyal. But her job is to make information available,” Mr. Bodney said. “She’s now in a unique position to either serve or frustrate the public interest. Unfortunately, her tenure in Arizona does not bode well.’
Former White House aide and her friend Cliff Sims said:
“People who survive and thrive in Trump world are the people who come to grips with the reality that you’re just going to have to go where Trump wants to go, and echo what the president says.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
