Former White House Press Secretary Admits It Was ‘Mistake’ to Work for Trump

Stephanie Grisham, the former White House press secretary whose new book includes further discussion about an allegation of toadstool similarity, now says she regrets her involvement in Donald Trump’s culture of “casual dishonesty.”

Speaking with George Stephanopoulos for a Good Morning America interview that aired Monday, Grisham was asked what took her “so long” to come forward with an expression of regret. According to Grisham, she initially entered the Trump team as a “true believer and a true loyalist” who was impressed by what was seen at the former Apprentice host’s rallies. At first, Grisham says she was”almost shielded” from the toxicity of the administration due to working largely in the East Wing. Once moved into the West Wing, however, that changed.

“When I went to the West Wing is when I actually started to see what it was really like and I regretted that decision immediately,” she said, later adding that she’s “reflected on” her enabling of the dishonesty-focused White House culture at the time.

“I now want to, in whatever way I can, educate the public about the behaviors within the White House because it does look like he’s gonna try to run in 2024,” she said. By Grisham’s assessment, a second Trump presidency—with any subsequent re-election concerns removed—would be focused largely on revenge and the implementation of policies that ensure that. 

As for a statement released by a Melania Trump rep in response to Grisham’s book, titled I’ll Take Your Questions Now, the author said she recognizes the “destroy the messenger” method because she was sometimes a part of it herself. She also added that she has “a lot of receipts” to back up the claims she makes in the book.

Closer to the end of the GMA clip, available above, Stephanopoulos asked Grisham point-blank if it was a “mistake to work for” Trump, prompting a swift “yes.” Asked to elaborate on why, exactly, she ever worked with him to begin with, Grisham reiterated her prior impression of Trump but conceded that she and others involved in the Trump administration ultimately lost the plot.

“I think that many of us, myself included, got into that White House and got heady with power. … We didn’t think about serving the country anymore,” Grisham, who insisted this wasn’t about being “a hero,” said. “It was about surviving in there and he loved it. He loved the chaos.”

Over the weekend, word broke that Trump—who was permanently suspended from Twitter following the fatal Capitol riot earlier this year—was asking a court to force the platform to reinstate his account.