According to a new book , Melania Trump had a withering nickname for Jared Kushner and Ivana Trump: “the interns.”
Stephanie Grisham , who briefly served as Donald Trump’s White House press secretary , revealed the unflattering nickname in her upcoming memoir, I’ll Take Your Questions Now: My Time in the Trump White House .
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According to Grisham, the nickname was not due to the couple’s youthful vitality.
“When I worked for the first lady in the east wing, we had all come to call Jared and Ivanka ‘the interns’ because they represented obnoxious know-it-alls in our minds , “ Grisham writes in a passage published by Politico . “Mrs. Trump found that nickname funny and occasionally used it herself.”
Grisham also details how, in his opinion, Ivanka and Jared hijacked the initial White House response to COVID-19 . In a heated discussion at the White House when the pandemic was just beginning, the former assistant recalls that the president’s daughter repeatedly insisted: “There should be an address from the Oval.”
Finally, Grisham asked Ivanka what exactly the president would say.
“She just looked at me, apparently confused,” writes Grisham.
Later, Grisham recalls a cabinet room meeting that Kushner dominated, even as he sat next to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
“What surprised me at that meeting was that Jared, who was sitting next to the Vice President of the United States, took over the meeting and was making all the decisions,” Grisham writes. “Every time I’d seen him behave that way with senior staff, that particular moment made me uncomfortable because it was with the vice president. It was disrespectful and I remember feeling embarrassed and disgusted. “
The former press secretary, who also served for a time as Melania Trump’s chief of staff, says the first lady sometimes agreed with her harsh assessment of “interns.”
“I had shared with Melania many times my opinion that if we lost reelection in 2020 it would be because of Jared,” Grisham writes. “She didn’t disagree with me.”
Melania and Donald Trump have vehemently denied Grisham’s account of his time in the White House.
“The intention behind this book is obvious,” the former first lady’s office said in a statement. “It is an attempt to redeem herself after poor performance as a press secretary, failed personal relationships and unprofessional behavior in the White House. Through falsehood and betrayal, she seeks to gain relevance and money at the expense of Mrs. Trump. “
The former president went even further.
“Stephanie didn’t have what it takes and that was obvious from the start,” Trump said in a statement tweeted by her spokeswoman, Liz Harrington. “Now, like everyone else, a radical leftist editor pays him to say bad and false things . Too bad the sleazy bag editors keep reporting this boring crap. “