Donald Trump‘s self-inflicted legal troubles seem to be getting worse by the day, and he only has himself to blame. And maybe Melania. Just a little bit. At least, according to former White House communications director Stephanie Grisham.
The 77-year-old ex-president was just ordered to pay almost $90 million to E. Jean Carroll for defamatory remarks he made about her in 2019 and 2022 after she accused him of raping her in the 1990s. In addition to calling Carroll crazy, a whack job, and a liar, he implied she’s ugly by saying, “She’s not my type.”
(Carroll later responded by saying, “I love that. I’m so glad I am not his type.” )
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Last year, a jury found Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation in the case. Now, Grisham is speaking out about the whole thing, and she says, while the ex-president is ultimately the one responsible, Melania played a small role in how he reacted when the story first broke in 2019.
Speaking to MSNBC, Grisham says she was working directly alongside Trump at the time and was close to Melania. According to her, he had a “tough time” dealing with the whole thing and was especially worried about what impact it might have on his family.
Asked specifically if Melania was his “target audience” when he publicly denied the allegations and then lodged his attacks against Carroll, Grisham replied, “I think so.”
“It’s my understanding that she has been really pressuring him to go out there and defend himself in this particular case,” she added. “So I think absolutely that he’s probably trying to defend himself with her.”
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Grisham also revealed that Trump urged her to deny the allegations as well, allegedly saying, “All you do is deny in these situations Stephanie. You just deny everything all the time, right?”
“I remember specifically feeling like that was a test for me because he stared me down when he asked me that,” she recalled.
In other words: Trump defamed Carroll in part because that’s just his modus operandi. But also because Melania urged him to do so. Now, years later, it’s costing him nearly $90 million. Which we’re sure she isn’t too pleased about. After all, that’s $90 million that could’ve gone into Barron’s trust fund!
Grisham added, “But also he’s running for president, so he’s wanting to make sure that he’s using this to his advantage … fundraising off of it and whining about how the system is so stacked against him.”
In addition to the money he now owes Carroll, Trump currently faces 13 charges in Georgia for his alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the Peach State, 40 charges in Florida for stealing classified government documents, 34 charges in New York regarding hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels, and 4 charges in Washington, D.C. for inciting the January 6 insurrection.
As for Melania, she has not only been MIA from the campaign trail, she’s been MIA from Trump’s life. She hasn’t been seen with him in public in months and wouldn’t even share a car with him when leaving her mother’s funeral earlier this month.
And as for Carroll, she vowed this week to donate the millions of dollars she’s set to receive to “something Donald Trump hates.”
“I’d like to give the money to something Donald Trump hates,” she told media, suggesting she might use it to set up “a fund for the women who have been sexually assaulted by Donald Trump.”
“If it will cause him pain for me to give money to certain things, that’s my intent,” she said.
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