Former First Lady Melania Trump wanted to send full-length mirrors to children she met in Malawi, book claims.
In September 2021, Stephanie Ann Grisham, 41, who served as the 32nd White House press secretary announced the publication of her book about her time working in the Trump administration. The book is titled I’ll Take Your Questions Now and it is due to be released on October 5th.
Stephanie wrote in her tell-all memoir that the former First Lady Melania Trump wanted to send full-length mirrors to children she met in Malawi so they could “see that they are very strong or very beautiful.”
Stephanie serves as Melania’s communications director at the time and recounted her October 2018 trip to Africa, the first lady’s first solo trip abroad. She said she was moved by their visit to the small East African country of Malawi.
The former press secretary wrote that while touring the Chipala Primary School, the first lady’s staff was “surprised” that children at the school asked their American visitors to take photos of them on their phones “so they could see what they looked like.”
“As soon as we returned to the United States, she wanted us to send full-length mirrors to the school,” Stephanie said in the memoir.
“We need to send the school mirrors,” she quoted Melania. “Children need to know what they look like and see that they are very strong or very beautiful.”
Stephanie wrote that the former first lady was adamant about it but the request was turned down by the former first lady’s then-chief of staff Lindsay Reynolds.
Based on her recounting, the White House counsel’s office had determined sending the mirrors would be “a liability” so they have to reject the request.
“Only my opinion of course, but I never really believed that to be true,” Stephanie wrote.point 201 |
“Because on more than one occasion Lindsay shared with me that she thought it would be a PR nightmare, a model sending African children mirrors.point 126 | Everyone in that White House thought they were an expert in communications; it was the story of my life”.point 219 | 1
Stephanie also reveals new stories about former President Donald Trump and the former first lady. She describes an overall toxic and dysfunctional environment in the White House.
She was one of the few close confidantes of the infamously private Melania, who pursued a few programs as the first lady but didn’t seek the public interest.
Stepahine wrote that Melania was nicknamed “Rapunzel” by the Secret Service because she barely leaves the white house and was largely checked out of the action by the end of her husband’s term.
The former aide also wrote about then-President Donald Trump’s “terrifying” temper in a chaotic White House. She wrote that he had a creepy, “unusual interest” in one of her assistants.
Stephanie revealed that an aide feared the Trumps, with all the grown children and spouses in tow, would “look like the Beverly Hillbillies” when they met Queen Elizabeth in 2019.
According to the book, Donald Trump also described his p***s to her in a phone call after remarks about it were made by a former mistress.
She added that “obnoxious, entitled know-it-alls” Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner hijacked the White House’s early response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The shocking revelations in Stephanie’s memoir have prompted Melania Trump to release a statement and blasted Stephanie’s book.
“The author is desperately trying to rehabilitate her tarnished reputation by manipulating and distorting the truth about Mrs Trump,” the statement reads. “Ms Grisham is a deceitful and troubled individual who doesn’t deserve anyone’s trust.”
The former first lady’s office called Stephanie’s memoir “an attempt to redeem herself after a poor performance as press secretary, failed personal relationships, and unprofessional behavior in the White House.”
They also accused Stephanie of “seeking to gain relevance and money at the expense of Mrs Trump.”
In response to Melania’s statement, Stephanie told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview that she “expected” such attacks and expects more.
“This is right out of their playbook,” Stephanie said. “When they don’t like the message, they’re going to destroy the messenger. I notice she’s not denying anything fully in the book just yet. I think she knows that I have a lot of receipts to show that I’m being fully honest.”
Stephanie first served as an aide to Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign. She was the first press secretary in U.S. history never to hold a press conference, at Trump’s orders, according to her book.
She instead opted for interviews on conservative news outlets and assumed the role of chief of staff to the first lady on April 7, 2020.