Ex-White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham says she ‘cooperated fully’ with January 6 committee
By Kate Bennett and Ryan Nobles, CNN
Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham met Wednesday on Capitol Hill with the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, according to multiple sources familiar with the meeting.
“I cooperated fully with the committee,” Grisham told reporters as she left the panel’s office Wednesday evening. The former White House aide and chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump declined to provide additional comment and said she wouldn’t get ahead of the committee.
Her meeting with the committee came after she had a phone call with committee member Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland during which Raskin encouraged her to meet with the panel.
A source told CNN that Grisham and Raskin had in-depth phone call about her knowledge of events behind-the-scenes at the White House on January 6. The source said that Grisham was “candid” about events in the White House at the time, many of which Grisham was present for, including knowledge of conversations involving former President Donald Trump that day.
Grisham left her job as press secretary and White House communications director by Trump in April 2020, just shy of a one year in those positions. She never held a press briefing in the briefing room while press secretary. Grisham was replaced by Kaleigh McEnany. She immediately returned to the East Wing, picking up the title of chief of staff to Melania Trump, who told CNN at the time she knew Grisham would “excel as chief of staff.”
Grisham continued her close relationship with Melania Trump and Donald Trump and was often with the first couple on trips, including visits to Mar-A-Lago, and remained one of their most trusted staffers. It was Grisham who had to wake up Melania Trump in her bedroom when she fell asleep waiting on results from election night.
On the afternoon of January 6, in the wake of the insurrection, Grisham became the first Trump administration official to resign that day as a result of the insurrection.
Grisham later confirmed in her memoir of her time in the White House that she sent Melania Trump a text that said, “Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness and violence?” to which Trump replied with one word: “No.”
CNN has reported that on January 6, Melania Trump was conducting a photo shoot of some of the carpets in the White House that she had had installed, and was disinterested in using her voice to condemn the violence, nor tell her husband to condemn the violence. It wasn’t until January 11, 2021, that Melania Trump publicly acknowledged the insurrection.
With the exception of Dan Scavino, Grisham was one of the longest serving members of the Trump administration, starting her time with Donald Trump as a press aide on his campaign.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated how Grisham transitioned from White House press secretary to her role as chief of staff for first lady Melania Trump.
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CNN’s Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.
