Stephanie Grisham, who formerly served as chief of staff to former First Lady Melania Trump and briefly as press secretary to former President Donald Trump, told CNN on Tuesday that she “probably” didn’t tell the truth during past Fox News interviews and detailed an example of a “lie” she told while representing Mr. Trump.
Grisham told CNN’s “New Day” that “she always wanted to host a press briefing during her time at the White House, but knew she would have to lie and therefore couldn’t bring herself to do it,” the Daily Caller detailed.
As a follow-up question, host John Berman asked Grisham if she was “always truthful” when she did Fox News interviews while serving the Trump administration.
“I probably wasn’t,” Grisham said on-air. “And I regret that so much.”
The former press secretary then detailed a “lie” she says she told on behalf of then-President Trump, concerning former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
“I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great president,” Grisham said in a 2019 press release, in response to Kelly criticism of Trump.
Grisham told CNN she doesn’t “speak that way” and that the statement was “dictated” to her by Trump “word for word.”
She added that she released the statement after speaking to a couple friends who agreed with her that the comments were “nuts.”
Trump likely would have “yelled and screamed” at her, or perhaps “fired” her right away if she refused to release the statement, Grisham told CNN, calling the release of the statement one of her “biggest regrets.”
In the book, she issued an apology to Mr. and Mrs. Kelly, Grisham said.
As highlighted by The Daily Caller, neither CNN host, Berman nor Brianna Keilar, questioned why the public should trust that Grisham’s words are truthful in her new book after admitting to lying.
WATCH:
Stephanie Grisham admits lying about John Kelly, calling it one of her "biggest regrets."
Also says she "probably wasn't" honest during her Fox News interviews. pic.twitter.com/Es1h3a1eod
— Alli Hedges Maser (@AllisonLHedges) October 5, 2021
As highlighted by The Daily Wire, Republican Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), a victim of left-wing violence in 2017, has already publicly refuted a claim from Grisham’s book.
In her tell-all, Grisham claims Melania refused to meet Rep. Scalise at the White House after he was shot because she “already said hello” to the Republican at the hospital.
Quote-tweeting a post from Insider reporting on the book claim, Scalise wrote via Twitter on Monday, “This is how the fake news media machine against President Trump and [Melania Trump] works. This never happened. My family went to visit the White House while I was still in the hospital and were graciously given a tour by President and Mrs. Trump.”
The Republican included three photos showing his family meeting with the Trumps — both President Donald Trump and Melania — at the White House.
In a statement to Insider, Scalise said he and his family never went to the White House for an unscheduled visit after he was released from the hospital, further refuting Grisham’s claim.
Grisham in response told Fox News she was referring to a different visit to the White House than the one Scalise posted about on Monday. “I respect Steve Scalise and wouldn’t expect he’d know about a conversation that he was not party to,” the former press sec said. “Perhaps he is conflating two separate events. Mrs. Trump chose not to greet him in the Blue Room after he was discharged from the hospital even though she was just upstairs. I found this to be disrespectful to Congressman Scalise and his family – his tweet does not contradict what I wrote in my book.”
H/t Daily Caller
A previous version of this article stated that Grisham admitted to lying on numerous occasions. She has only admitted to lying on one occasion.