Stephanie Grisham has claimed that “paranoid” Donald Trump had several “off the books” meetings in the White House in order to keep details out of the National Archives.
Ms Grisham, who served as White House press secretary and chief of staff for First Lady Melania Trump during the Trump administration, told CNN that the then-president had “lots of” closed door meetings which were left off his public calendar.
By having the meetings off the books, “anything that was written down could probably be thrown in the trash”, she said.
Ms Grisham, who has released a controversial tell-all book about her time with the Trumps, spoke out as the former president continues to try to block the release of National Archives related to the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.
The January 6 House Select Committee has requested the records as part of its investigation into the violent insurrection by Mr Trump’s supporters which left five people dead.
But, according to Ms Grisham, many discussions didn’t even make it into the records.
“Lots of meetings take place in the residence where I’m hoping they are looking at call logs but I have a feeling even that sometimes things weren’t even put into call logs,” she said.
Ms Grisham said the purpose of this was two-fold.
“A lot of meetings took place because the president at the time was so paranoid of leaks that a lot of meetings took place in the residence,” she said.
“Number one so that he could keep track of who was in there and that if it leaked out he could try to figure that out.
“But number two so that it was very much kept off the books and documents and anything that was written down could probably be thrown in the trash where people can’t come and retrieve them to put into the archives.”
She added: “So that happened quite a bit and I’m sure the Select Committee is aware of that and is looking into that.”
Ms Grisham claimed that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was involved in planning some of these meetings.
“Mark Meadows was one towards the end who was definitely helping to plan those meetings so I think Mark Meadows should be spoken to, I think that he will stall,” she said.
Mr Meadows failed to appear before the House Select Committee for a deposition on Friday morning in a move that now leaves him at risk of being criminally charged with contempt of Congress.
The former top White House aide had received a subpoena from committee chairperson Mississippi Rep Bennie Thompson to give evidence before the committee and hand over documents relating to the Capitol riot.
His compliance with the subpoena had been extended while he tried to negotiate the terms of his compliance with the committee.
But, on Thursday he was then ordered to appear the following morning.
Thompson and the committee’s ranking member Rep Liz Cheney confirmed that Mr Meadows was a no-show and said they were considering pursuing contempt charges.
His failure to show came the same day that Steve Bannon was indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for contempt of Congress after he also refused to comply with the committee’s subpoenas.
Mr Bannon, who worked as an adviser to Mr Trump, was referred to the DOJN after a House vote last month.
However, the committee was dealt a blow on Friday after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the National Archives from handing over records to the committee.
A federal judge had ruled on Tuesday that the records must be released by a deadline of Friday.
But the DC Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction while Mr Trump continues to appeal against their release.
Mr Trump’s legal team has been given a date of 30 November for oral arguments for its appeal.
The former president has claimed that executive privilege means the records should not be released.
President Joe Biden has disagreed because Mr Trump is no longer president and so is no longer protected by executive privilege.
Wowsers_ on November 14th, 2021 at 14:22 UTC »
Hey Stephanie, you worked for the administration for 4 years in multiple roles. Heck, you worked for the 2016 campaign so you were happy to enable Trump being a bumbling racist moron.
You were a complicit cowardly piece of shit who was more than happy to take a paycheck doing their bidding, and you’re only coming out now to cash in again. If you thought this shit was so bad (which, no shit it is), you should have said something in real time. If you had any spine, you’d have blown the whistle years ago.
You can fuck right off with your self righteous book.
AverageLiberalJoe on November 14th, 2021 at 14:16 UTC »
Let's go full circle here for a second and recognize that Trump rose to power by lambasting Hillary for violating the Presidential Records Act dubbing her 'Crooked Hillary' for the investigation in to whether using a private email server for work violated the act. The then head of the FBI made a public hearing about the investigation in to this violation one week before the election and it propelled Trump to victory. That was only 5 years ago. And now? Nobody will even look in to this. It will be forgotten tomorrow. And not a single supporter of his will switch sides due to the earth shattering hypocrisy of it all because nobody actually ever gave a shit.
CrustyTrombone85 on November 14th, 2021 at 12:01 UTC »
"There has never been, ever before, an administration that’s been so open and transparent."
Then, four days later, Trump reiterated the point in another White House lawn exchange with reporters: "I was the most transparent — and am — transparent president in history."