Ex-Aide Predicts Melania Trump's Response To 'Humiliating' Trial Moment
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Stephanie Grisham, a former aide to Melania Trump, said she didn’t expect the former first lady to leave her husband, Donald Trump, despite the salacious and embarrassing allegations that have emerged in the former president’s ongoing hush money trial.
Melania Trump “knew who she married,” Grisham told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday.
Former Trump fixer and attorney Michael Cohen testified in court earlier in the day that Trump appeared unfazed by his wife’s potential response to learning of his alleged 2006 sexual encounter with porn actor Stormy Daniels. Trump is accused of falsifying business documents during the 2016 election to cover up a payment for Daniels’ silence. Trump denies the claims.
Cohen said Trump told him when they were arranging the payment, “How long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long.” Cohen said Trump “wasn’t thinking about Melania” and that the alleged scheme was “all about the campaign.”
Burnett asked Grisham if the reported exchange could be one of the moments from the trial that “may be very significant for Trump, Trump’s life, for his marriage.”
“Yes, absolutely,” Grisham replied. “Look, I think that two things can be true at the same time. Could Melania Trump be angry right now about all of this being out there and about their personal lives and it’s humiliating? Absolutely on a personal level.”
“But yes, she knew who she married,” she added. “And I think that comment [from Trump] to Cohen rang absolutely true. She’s happy, she’s got a very good life. She’s not going anywhere, that’s been proven. And so I absolutely believe he said something like that to Michael Cohen.”
Grisham, who was Melania Trump’s chief of staff and press secretary and later the Trump White House press secretary and communications director, also opined on Trump’s composure during Cohen’s testimony — which was in stark contrast to his visible anger when Daniels took the stand last week and which prompted Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case, to admonish him.
“I think that he probably saw the news coverage after Stormy Daniels was up on the stand and his reaction was covered pretty widely and it wasn’t favorably,” said Grisham. “I’m sure his lawyers talked to him. I’m sure his family members talked to him and said, ‘You cannot be acting out when Michael Cohen is there.’ And I think probably too it was an ego thing, I doubt he wanted to show Michael any kind of a reaction.”
“I imagine that right when he got out of that courtroom he wanted to burst and couldn’t wait until he got to the Suburban and of course had to give the media a show,” she added.
Watch from the 5:40 mark here:
