Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham in a new book says former President Trump’s anger toward her and others was “terrifying.”
Grisham, who served as press secretary for nine months before moving to the first lady’s office, writes in her new book, “I’ll Take Your Questions Now,” that she started to regret her decision to work in the West Wing when she saw Trump’s temper “wasn’t just for shock value or the cameras.”
“When I began to see how his temper wasn’t just for shock value or the cameras … I began to regret my decision to go to the West Wing,” Grisham writes in the book, according to The New York Times, which obtained the manuscript.
Grisham writes that Pat Cipollone, who served as White House counsel under Trump, was a frequent target of the former president’s anger.
“He didn’t like them telling him that things he wanted to do were unethical or illegal. So he’d scream at them. But then he’d usually listen. And then yell at them again later,” Grisham writes, according to the Times.
The former press secretary criticizes herself, writing, “I should have spoken up more.”
She said “pretty much” all members of Trump’s team “eventually wore out their welcome with the president.”
“We were bottles of milk with expiration dates,” she added, according to the Times.
According to Grisham, a Trump aide was tapped to play to former president’s favorite songs, including “Memory” from the Broadway shows “Cats” to “pull him from the brink of rage.”
Grisham also writes that Trump asked her to investigate permanently evicting press from the White House briefing room, adding that she “researched different places we could put them other than the press briefing room.”
“Each time the president asked me about my progress on the matter, I let him know I was still working on option,” Grisham further says, according to the Times.
Trump said in a statement on Tuesday that Grisham “didn’t have what it takes and that was obvious from the beginning.”
“She became very angry and bitter after her break up and as time went on she was seldom relied upon, or even thought about. She had big problems and we felt that she should work out those problems for herself. Now, like everyone else, she gets paid by a radical left-leaning publisher to say bad and untrue things,” Trump said.
“Too bad that sleaze bag publishers continue to report this very boring garbage,” he added. “We and the MAGA movement are totally used to it. And someday in the not too distant future we will have our voice back and be treated fairly by the press.”
Grisham’s book is set to be released on Oct. 5.
She resigned from her post as Melania Trump’s communications director and chief of staff on Jan. 6, following the deadly riots at the Capitol that were led by a pro-Trump mob.
Since then, the relationship between Grisham and the Trumps has been acrimonious, with the former president and former first lady both issuing statements critical of Grisham and her book.
The office of Melania Trump said in a statement to Politico earlier this month the intent of Grisham’s book was to “redeem herself after a poor performance as press secretary, failed personal relationships, and unprofessional behavior in the White House.”
“This is not, by the way, a book where you need to like me,” Grisham writes in her new book, according to the Times.
–Updated at 1:43 p.m.