Trump Had an ‘Unusual Interest’ in Female Staffer, Wanted to Do One Thing to 'Keep Her Happy': Book

Donald Trump’s alleged behavior toward a young female staffer during his presidency is coming under scrutiny again. Stephanie Grisham, his former press secretary, shed light on the situation in her 2021 book, I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in the White House. Grisham claimed the ex-president was "taking an unusual interest in a young, highly attractive press wrangler" on her team. 

In excerpts from the Daily Mail, Grisham detailed Trump’s repeated comments about the staffer. Grisham said she, along with a former White House communications director, Alyssa Farah Griffin, reported Trump's behavior to his chiefs of staff, including Mark Meadows. She recounted that when former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway approached him to advocate for a staffer who had been let go, his primary concern was ensuring that Meadows had not fired another woman he found particularly attractive. She described how Trump instructed her to 'put [the woman] on TV' and to 'keep her happy' by promoting her. 

On one occasion aboard Air Force One, Trump allegedly said, “Let’s bring her up here and look at her a*s.” Grisham explained that after this incident, she tried to exclude the staffer from trips. “I needed to protect her and, frankly, the president as well,” she wrote. "When she did come along on trips, he often asked me to bring her to his office cabin in the aircraft, which he'd rarely done with anyone else," Grisham wrote. "Sometimes I would make an excuse, but on the occasions where I couldn't find a way out of it, I always accompanied her and stayed in the cabin the whole time."

Grisham also shared details about her own uncomfortable experiences with Trump, recalling that during a flight on Air Force One, he asked her then-boyfriend whether she was 'good in bed.' Additionally, the book recounts a moment in the Oval Office when Trump insulted E. Jean Carroll’s appearance while discussing her allegations against him. During the conversation, he told Grisham that the strategy in such situations was simple: “You just deny it. That’s what you do in every situation. Right, Stephanie? You just deny it.”

Grisham admitted to grappling with the idea of telling Melania Trump, believing the former first lady could potentially intervene. “A couple of times I came close to telling Mrs. Trump about the president's behavior,” she noted before explaining, “But I could never bring myself to say anything. Maybe it wasn’t my place or any of my business.” The book also delves into Melania's reactions, or lack thereof, during critical moments in Trump’s presidency.

Meanwhile, Donald dismissed Grisham’s account, saying in a statement to The New York Times, “Stephanie didn’t have what it takes, and that was obvious from the beginning.” He accused her of bitterness following a breakup and claimed she was paid by a 'radical left-leaning publisher to say bad and untrue things.' Grisham, who worked closely with both Donald and Melania during her time in the White House, resigned on January 6, 2021, the day of the Capitol riot.