A onetime member of former President Donald Trump’s inner White House circle believes lawyers in his criminal hush money trial are telling him he’s winning to keep him sweet.
Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s former White House Communications Director, made this argument during a CNN appearance following a contentious day in the Manhattan criminal courtroom where adult film star Stormy Daniels took the stand.
“When he knows he’s caught, or he feels cornered, he becomes extremely agitated,” Grisham said. “He clearly felt in the first half of the day that his team wasn’t fighting for him.”
The former president, the presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency in 2024, denies an affair with Daniels and pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to mask hush money paid the adult film star ahead of the 2016 election.
The former president appeared visibly vexed during Daniel’s testimony and was rebuked by Justice Juan Merchan for “cursing audibly” in court.
Grisham explained she faced similar demands for aggressive action from Trump in the White House during his two impeachment proceedings, and suggested his positive demeanor after the lunch break was proof he’d lashed out again.
“He clearly let them know what he wanted,” Grisham said. “His lawyer was very aggressive with Stephanie Clifford towards the end.”
“The fact that he walked out and didn’t really bring her up and actually tried to talk some campaign issues makes me think these people are telling him ‘We’re winning now, sir!’, ‘This was a great day for us!'”
Later, Trump would repeat the words “great day” on Truth Social.
