Melania Trump's senior aide to replace Sarah Sanders
Stephanie Grisham, a top aide to First Lady Melania Trump, will be the next White House press secretary, replacing Sarah Huckabee Sanders and taking on an elevated role that makes her the top communications official for both President Donald Trump and his wife.
Melania Trump announced the news on Twitter on Tuesday. “She has been with us since 2015 - @potus & I can think of no better person to serve the Administration & our country. Excited to have Stephanie working for both sides of the @WhiteHouse. #BeBest,” she wrote
Grisham, who serves as the first lady’s deputy chief of staff and communications director, had long been seen as the leading candidate for the job. Grisham won the trust of both the president and the first lady after working on Trump’s campaign, his transition team and as a deputy to then-press secretary Sean Spicer before moving to the East Wing. Since going to work for the first lady, Grisham has emerged as a fierce advocate for Melania Trump, pushing back on negative stories about her both behind the scenes and in public.
She will take on dual role in the East Wing and West Wing, a massive portfolio that will make her the lead public spokeswoman for both the first lady and the president. In addition to continuing in her role as Melania Trump's communications director, Grisham will serve as both White House press secretary and communications director, a senior administration official said.
She is accompanying Trump on his trip to Japan for the G-20 summit this week, the official added.
Sanders announced earlier this month that she planned to step down and return to her home state of Arkansas, where she is seriously considering eventually running for governor. Sanders is leaving the White House at the end of this week.
Trump had been considering several candidates to replace Sanders. But aides said he was inclined to choose a woman for the role, as well as somebody he knew well. That made Grisham an obvious choice. Grisham has been working at the White House for the entirety of Trump’s time in office. And since Grisham moved to the East Wing, Trump has frequently joked about stealing her back, a White House official said.
“I’m sad to leave the WH, but so happy to leave our team in such great hands. Stephanie will do a phenomenal job. Proud to have another mom and a great friend in this role,” Sanders wrote on Twitter.
Grisham takes the helm at a tumultuous period for the Trump administration that has been frequently marked by tensions between the White House and the press. It has been more than 100 days since Sanders held a formal, televised briefing. Trump pushed for fewer briefings because he believes they had given reporters an opportunity to grandstand. Instead, Sanders mostly takes questions from reporters on the White House driveway after doing interviews on cable news networks, namely Fox News.
Sanders also came under intense criticism for her unequivocal defense of Trump and for sparring with reporters. Public attention particularly focused on Sanders after the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, which said Sanders acknowledged her claim that "countless" FBI officials told her they were pleased with Trump's move to fire FBI chief James Comey was a "slip of the tongue" and not based on facts. Sanders later insisted that the thrust of the comment was accurate.
That glare is expected to now shift to Grisham, who has a much lower profile and isn’t a frequent presence on television.
Grisham is one of the most influential figures in Melania Trump's orbit. She has chastised reporters for what she views as tabloid-style coverage of the first lady. She also released a statement last year on behalf of Melania Trump calling for the ouster of one of the top officials on the National Security Council, Mira Ricardel, the deputy to national security adviser John Bolton. The White House subsequently removed Ricardel.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine
News
via https://www.DMT.NEWS
arestuccia@politico.com (Andrew Restuccia), Khareem Sudlow
