Melania Trump’s communications director on Friday unleashed — for the second time — a fiery missive dismissing the juicy tell-all that paints a chaotic picture of White House happenings.
“The book is a work of fiction. It is a long-form tabloid that peddles false statements and total fabrications about Mrs. Trump,” said Stephanie Grisham in a statement to CNN pushing back against Michael Wolff’s explosive book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”
“In short, it’s irresponsible and yet another ‘journalist’ looking to profit off the Trump family and this administration,” said Grisham.
Grisham’s comments echoed her initial response to the controversial book issued Wednesday, when excerpts were first made public. Those portions included a snippet that stated the first lady was so upset that her husband won the presidency she shed tears of sadness on election night.
The book also revealed that the first couple, according to Wolff, is the first since the Kennedys to have separate bedrooms in the White House Executive Residence. While Grisham did not directly address specific passages, she did deny the first lady was unhappy about her husband’s victory.
“This book is clearly going to be sold in the bargain fiction section. Mrs. Trump supported her husband’s decision to run for president and in fact, encouraged him to do so. She was confident he would win and was very happy when he did,” Grisham said.
CNN has not independently verified all the details in Wolff’s book.
This is not the first time, nor even the second, the first lady has had a heated response to claims she deems false. Melania Trump, who once warned that when her husband gets attacked, he punches back 10 times harder, seems to apply a similar credo when it comes to her own reputation.
In October, after Ivana Trump said on a talk show that she didn’t telephone her ex-husband at the White House because she didn’t want to make Melania Trump “jealous,” the current Mrs. Trump made it clear to the former Mrs. Trump that she was hardly concerned — nor did she believe Ivana’s claim that she remained “first lady.”
Instead of avoiding the salaciousness of the commentary, Trump waded in with a statement from Grisham: “Mrs. Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the President. She loves living in Washington, DC, and is honored by her role as first lady of the United States. She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books.”
“There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex, this is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise,” Grisham added.
Similarly, when a Vanity Fair story published in late November claimed Trump didn’t want to be first lady, “come hell or high water,” Trump again fired back using her surrogate. Grisham slammed the publication, calling it part of the “liberal media” and claiming the profile was “riddled with unnamed sources and false assertions.”
Grisham’s most recent response came on the heels of passages in Wolff’s book that claim the President is a chronic philanderer, and that Mr. and Mrs. Trump wouldn’t see each other for days at a time, even when both were at Trump Tower in New York. Wolff also wrote Trump was an absentee father to the couple’s son, Barron Trump.
“Freedom of speech does not mean the freedom to tell lies.” said Grisham on behalf of her boss. “Perhaps one day she will tell her own truthful story, but until then Mrs. Trump is focused on her role as first lady.”
