First Lady Melania Trump’s former chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, had her own receipts to show Tuesday after Cassidy Hutchinson testified about the president’s and his advisers’ opposition to calling off the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Grisham, who also served as White House press secretary, shared what appears to be a text exchange between her and an “MT” – Melania Trump – in which she asks, “Are you going to tweet that peaceful protest is every American’s right?” ‘but there is no place for lawlessness and violence.’
“No,” Grisham’s texts indicate that the first lady responded.
First Lady Melania Trump’s former chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, had her own receipts to show Tuesday after Cassidy Hutchinson testified about the president’s and his advisers’ opposition to calling off the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol
Stephanie Grisham (left) previously detailed how these exchanges with now-former first lady Melania Trump (right) forced her to quit her job on Jan. 6. Grisham said she finally sees the first lady as the “doomed French queen”. dismissive. defeated. detached’
Grisham detailed this interaction with the then First Lady in her book, I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House, and explained how it compelled her to leave.
She wrote that she “finally saw the doomed Queen of France. dismissive. defeated. Detached.’
Melania Trump was in the middle of a photoshoot, photographing some of the White House carpets, when the Capitol was attacked by the pro-Trump crowd.
“It broke me,” Grisham wrote. “I took a deep breath and waited another minute. Here’s what you learned from the Trump White House: Make sure you’re grounded and don’t act on the spur of the moment. Then I quit.’
“I emailed her and CC’ed her senior advisor so I can’t take it back or talk me out of it. I was done,’ said Grisham.
In January 2022, Grisham appeared in person to speak with members of the House Select Committee on January 6.
Melania Trump’s ex-Chief of Staff Stephanie Grisham met behind closed doors in January 2022 with the House Select Committee on Jan. 6. She comes to the meeting being held in the O’Neill House office building in Washington
Stephanie Grisham tweeted her exchange with Melania Trump after Cassidy Hutchinson, former adviser to Mark Meadows, spoke of her own “frustration” at getting Meadows to cater to the angry pro-Trump crowd that gathered on Jan. 6 approaching the US Capitol
Hutchinson, a 25-year-old former White House aide who worked under Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the attack, reported to the House Committee on Jan. 6 on President Donald Trump and Meadows’ conduct during the MAGA riot.
She said she was “frustrated” by her own boss’s ambivalence — and even pointed out to Meadows that one of his close friends, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, was likely still in the Capitol Building as the angry crowd approached.
“I remember thinking at that moment Mark has to get out of here and I don’t know how to get him out of there. He has to take care of it,” she told the House Committee.
“And I just blurted out, ‘Do you know where Jim is right now?'” she said. “And he looked up to me at that point. “Jim?” I told Mark he was on the floor a while ago giving a speech, were you listening? … Do you know where he is right now?’
Hutchinson said she encouraged Meadows to look to Jordan.
“And I remember pointing at the TV and saying, ‘The rioters are getting closer. You could come in,'” she said. ‘He looked at me and said something along the lines of, ‘Okay, I’ll call him.’
She told lawmakers it’s like watching “a serious car accident that you can’t prevent but want to be able to do something about to happen.”
Hutchinson also said in her taped testimony that hours before a video statement was released, Ivanka Trump and other White House officials tried to get the president to call off the attack.
During the hearing, Hutchinson also recalled an impromptu meeting on Jan. 6 after Trump returned to the White House after speaking at the Ellipse with former deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato and Bobby Engel, the head of Trump’s security detail.
“Did you hear what happened in the beast?” she said Angel asked her.
She replied that she hadn’t heard.
“Tony went on to tell me that when the President got on the beast, Mr. Meadows was under the impression that secret movement to the Capitol was still possible and likely to take place, but that Bobby had more information,” Hutchinson said .
Trump, Hutchinson said, thought they were going up to the Capitol — as he had told his crowd of supporters.
That was in the hours before the attack.
“When Bobby had told him we’re not, we don’t have the resources to do it, it’s not safe, we’re going back to the west wing, the president had a very strong, very angry reaction,” Hutchinson continued.
She was told Trump said something like, “I’m the friggin’ President, take me to the Capitol now!”
Angels, she said, reiterated that they were going back to the White House.
“The President reached to the front of the vehicle to grab the steering wheel, Mr. Engel grabbed his arm and said, ‘Sir, you must take your hand off the wheel, we’re going back to the West Wing, we’re not going to the Capitol,'” she said .
‘Mister. Trump then used his free hand to lunge at Bobby Engel, and when Mr. Ornato had told me this story, he pointed to his collarbones,” Hutchinson said, indicating the president was grabbing Engel’s throat.
GOP Rep. Liz Cheney then asked Hutchinson if Engel or Ornato ever changed their stories.
“Neither Mr. Ornato nor Mr. Engel ever told me it wasn’t true,” Hutchinson testified.
From there, Hutchinson spoke about Trump throwing dishes when he was served bad news.
She said she remembered hearing “noise” after the Associated Press article published, in which Barr confirmed that Trump’s widespread allegations of voter fraud were not real.
Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was summoned to Trump’s office.
When Meadows returned, Hutchinson said she went down to the White House dining room.
“And I noticed that the door was open and the servant was in the dining room changing the tablecloth from the dining room table,” she said. “He gestured for me to come in, then pointed to the front of the room near the mantelpiece and TV.”
“Where I first noticed ketchup dripping off the wall,” she continued. “And there’s a broken china plate on the floor.”
“The valet had articulated that the president was extremely angry about the attorney general’s AP interview and threw his lunch against the wall,” she said, explaining that she then helped with the cleanup.
Cheney then asked Hutchinson if this was typical Trump behavior.
“Several times during my tenure as chief of staff, I was aware that he was either throwing dishes or flicking the tablecloth causing the entire contents of the table to fall to the floor and likely shatter or fly everywhere,” Hutchinson volunteered.