Trump would have told Putin to ‘go on in’ Ukraine, ex-White House press secretary says

Stephanie Grisham – who never held press briefing – says ex-president ‘really admired’Russian leader

One of Donald Trump’s White House press secretaries has said the former president would have had taken a very hands off approach to Ukraine and told Vladimir Putin to “go on in there”.

As the Biden administration announced the president was to sign an executive order banning the import of Russian oil and other fossils fuel as part of a tightening of sanctions against Moscow, Stephanie Grisham, who served as Mr Trump’s fourth press secretary, said the former president would have not taken such steps.

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“I think that he would have a completely hands off approach. I think he’d be like, ‘go on in there’,” she said on ABC’s The View, when asked how Mr Trump would have responded to the crisis.

“He really admired Putin, and I saw that firsthand.”

Ms Grisham was appointed to the role in the summer of 2019, replacing Sarah Sanders, and held the position for a year.

She carries the distinction of being the only White House press secretary never to hold a single press briefing, presumably at the instructions of Mr Trump. Instead, she gave interviews to outlets such as Fox News.

She left the administration days after the Jan 6 2021 riot at the US Capitol and has been promoting a memoir,  I’ll Take Your Questions Now.

Ms Grisham, 45, said she had seen up close the way Mr Trump allegedly admired Mr Putin, who he last month described as a “genius” after the launched the invasion of Ukraine.

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“I saw him say to Putin, ‘Hey, I’m going to be tough on you in front of the cameras. You understand? And once the cameras are gone, we’ll have a real conversation’,” she said.

“He said that?” Ms Grisham was asked. She confirmed: “He said that.”