Yet another tell-all exposé has been published about the Trump Administration – this time, from former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham. On Tuesday, Grisham was a guest on CNN’s New Day, where she was urged to bash former President Trump and his top aides for the better part of an hour.
The interview, which seemed more akin to a gossip session than a news segment, soon turned to the influence of Fox News in Trump’s presidency.
Host Brianna Keilar asked Grisham, “What was the role of Fox News in the White House?” Grisham responded:
That's a great question. That's just where we went to get what we wanted out, you know? I looked forward to going and doing Lou Dobbs, because Lou Dobbs would do all the talking about how great everything was, and I would just nod and say, yes. They, you know, by and large, didn't get tough with us. They just took what we were saying and disseminated it.
But Keilar pressed further, asking, “Was it, to you, like state-run T.V. for Donald Trump?”
Grisham balked slightly at this dramatic accusation, at first agreeing, then walking the statement back: “You know, a bit. I say there, I think there are some legitimate journalists at Fox News who would ask some tough questions, so I don't wanna, as a whole, paint them. But I think certainly in the evening, yes, it was.”
This line of questioning is especially ludicrous coming from CNN, which frequently lobs softball questions at its liberal guests, and rarely invites conservative guests on the show to begin with. During the Biden administration thus far, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy has been the only consistently challenging voice to White House press secretary Jen Psaki during daily briefings.
Grisham said she felt “horribly guilty” for the time she spent on Fox News as part of her job. However, later in the segment, Keilar and co-host John Berman pushed her to apologize over and over:
KEILAR: You write in the book that it is the job of the spokesperson to take the lumps in the press and do all you can to make your principal look good, even if it means that you're looking at or simply as though you're a liar. But you didn't have -- you didn't have to lie.
GRISHAM: I didn't. I didn't have to lie and I regret any of the lies that I told. And I regret working there, right? I mean, I have so many regrets.
…
BERMAN: Did you harm democracy? Do you feel that you played a role in hurting democracy?
GRISHAM: I do, though I absolutely and positively have not -- you know, I believe Biden is our president and I believe that the election was valid.
…
KEILAR: In this totality, do you think your enabling cost lives?
GRISHAM: I do. I think the way we handled COVID was, was tragic.
And after this, CNN still wants us to believe that Fox News is the real state-run T.V.?
This hypocritical and ironic CNN segment was sponsored by VRBO and Discover.
You can read the full transcript of this segment below by clicking Expand.
10/05/21
7:22:07 AMBRIANNA KEILAR: What was the role of Fox News in the White House?
STEPHANIE GRISHAM: That's a great question. That's just where we went to get what we wanted out, you know? I looked forward to going and doing Lou Dobbs, because Lou Dobbs would do all the talking about how great everything was, and I would just nod and say, yes. They, you know, by and large, didn't get tough with us. They just took what we were saying and disseminated it. And I think they're disseminating it to a lot of people who went, went to the Capitol for January 6th.
And, you know, again, I've had a lot of time to grapple with this, and I feel horribly guilty about, about my part in it because I was on Fox a lot.
KEILAR: Was it, to you, like state-run T.V. for Donald Trump?
GRISHAM: I think, more importantly now with OAN, them coming out, I think those, that's like state-run media. I think -- and that's getting, it sounds like, more and more and more of an audience. And I think those people also are the people who can potentially cause a lot of damage.
JOHN BERMAN: Stephanie, we have a lot more to discuss here, and you are taking our questions now, so we're going to seize this opportunity. We want to talk about your time with the former first lady and also the Trump children. Standby for news.
…
KEILAR: You write in the book that it is the job of the spokesperson to take the lumps in the press and do all you can to make your principal look good, even if it means that you're looking at or simply as though you're a liar. But you didn't have -- you didn't have to lie.
GRISHAM: I didn't. I didn't have to lie and I regret any of the lies that I told. And I regret working there, right? I mean, I have so many regrets. And I don't think -- I don't know what you guys think but the book isn't real nice to me either and I have no illusions that people are going to like me. This has not been an easy process because now, not only does the left hate me but now the right really hates me. But all I can do now is look forward. All I can do now is look forward. And he is trying to put people into Congress in 2022 that will rubberstamp his policies -- whatever he wants. And that's a big deal because let's say he doesn't run, which I hope, he will still have those people -- those people doing his bidding. And if he does run in 2024 -- and again, I hope not -- like I said, there will be no guardrails. And I don't know what kind of people are going to be in that administration because it won't matter. He won't have to run again.
JOHN BERMAN: This issue is, as you've told us, there were many opportunities where you could have said no or should have said no.
GRISHAM: Yes.
BERMAN: You didn't.
GRISHAM: Correct.
BERMAN: Now you are saying you regret it --
GRISHAM: Yeah.
BERMAN: -- but the question is are you saying you regret it to sell books? Do you really feel bad? Do you really -- if you had to do it all over again would you do it differently or is this all --
GRISHAM: If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't have been there. But obviously, hindsight is 20/20. Obviously, I want to sell books but I want to sell books so that people can read the entire story and see the context. And again, I was a loyalist and I was a believer, and I defended them fiercely. And if I can convince five or six other people who were like me that this is not natural and this is not normal, and this is a cult-like environment, and if you can just step out and clear your head, maybe I can change things. I made a lot of mistakes in there. I also think that we mitigated a lot of disasters -- some of us who did stay. I mean, there were a lot of political -- we had to fill 2,000 political appointee spots. And let me tell you, there were some people who really wanted in there and who the president maybe wanted us to put in there. And so, we did mitigate some things while we were in there. But I regret it, yes. Again, this is not me trying to cleanse my reputation. I have -- that's not gonna happen and this is gonna follow me everywhere, period, end of story.
But, you know, I have gone back to basics in my life. I am with my family now, I am with my friends now, and my dogs, and my chickens, and I'm watching from afar. And it's okay that people are angry. I just want people to understand how toxic it is. It's really toxic.
BERMAN: Did you harm democracy? Do you feel that you played a role in hurting democracy?
GRISHAM: I do, though I absolutely and positively have not -- you know, I believe Biden is our president and I believe that the election was valid. And I think right now, that is one of our biggest threats to democracy. We can't just stomp our feet and say oh, no -- you know, I didn't win this. It's -- we have an election system. I think that there are always anomalies. But, yes is gonna be my short answer. I think I played a role in a very, very bad time.
KEILAR: You were enabling the big lie by the acquiescence. By being there for months while he told it.
GRISHAM: Mm-hmm.
KEILAR: But you were also there during COVID.
GRISHAM: Mm-hmm.
KEILAR: In this totality, do you think your enabling cost lives?
GRISHAM: I do. I think the way we handled COVID was, was tragic. I think that the president's vanity got in the way. I -- he was -- he was working for his base; he was not working for his -- this country. He -- you know, he didn't wear a mask quickly enough. Now, this isn't an excuse --
KEILAR: Or hardly ever.
GRISHAM: Correct. And this isn't an excuse but I also worked for Mrs. Trump and I was so proud because she was out there doing PSAs and wearing a mask, and trying to push it. And naive as this is, I kept hoping she would convince her husband -- you know, please, get out there, Donald -- get out there. But, yes -- again, I was part of that and I don't think I'll ever forgive myself with respect to COVID. I don't think I can ever redeem myself.
