Melania blasts former press secretary’s tell-all for ‘mistruth and betrayal’

Former press secretary writes that Melania is like the ‘doomed French queen’ Marie Antoinette: ‘Dismissive. Defeated. Detached’

Melania Trump has attacked a former White HOuse press secretary who is set to reveal damaging details about the former first lady in a forthcoming tell-all book.

Stephanie Grisham’s I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in The Trump White House is one of the most highly anticipated book releases by a former Trump administration official.

Among the allegations that have leaked out prior to the book’s publication next month are that Ms Trump, 51, refused to condemn the January 6 riots, and spent that day overseeing a photo shoot of a carpet she had installed.

Ms Grisham resigned soon after the assault on the US Capitol and writes that Ms Trump is like the “doomed French queen” Marie Antoinette: “Dismissive. Defeated. Detached.”

The former First Lady has criticised several former aides for writing revealing tell-all books (Getty)

In a statement to Politico Playbook, a representative for Ms Trump said: “The intent behind this book is obvious. It is an attempt to redeem herself after a poor performance as press secretary, failed personal relationships, and unprofessional behavior in the White House.

“Through mistruth and betrayal, she seeks to gain relevance and money at the expense of Mrs Trump.”

Ms Grisham held a variety of senior roles in the White House including press secretary and communications director as well as several stints as Ms Trump’s spokeswoman.

She joined the Trump campaign in 2015 and was later named White House press secretary, a role she held for eight months before stepping down in April 2020. She didn’t hold a single press briefing during her time in the role.

As the mob stormed the US Capitol building on 6 January, Ms Grisham wrote to her boss asking: “Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness and violence?”

Ms Trump reportedly replied a one word answer a minute later: “No”.

A publishing source told Playbook that the book would contain “unflattering nuggets” about Trump officials that Ms Grisham clashed with, including Jared Kushner and former chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Stephanie Grisham didn’t hold a single press briefing during her eight months as White House press secretary

“Stephanie knows she’s stirred up a hornet’s nest with this book,” the source said.

“It’s hard to articulate how much anxiety this is going to cause,” another source recently told Axios.

I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in The Trump White House is to be published on 5 October by Harper Collins.

Last year Mrs Trump’s former friend and senior adviser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff released Melania and Me which also contained embarrassing revelations about the Slovenian-born former model.