Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Thursday that former President Trump’s “self-announced” press conference shows the Republican presidential nominee is “panic-ing.”
In a post on the social platform “X,” the former Trump aide said he speculates that Trump may be unhappy with the positive media attention that Vice President Harris has recently received and would like the spotlight to return.
“President Trump is panicking about the press conference he has scheduled for today at 2 p.m.,” said Grisham, who also served as White House communications director and chief of staff and press secretary to First Lady Melania Trump.
“I’ve seen this play out so many times,” she continued. “He thinks his team is letting him down, and there’s no one else who can ‘save’ his campaign or defend him. He hates the coverage Harris is getting, and he thinks only he can fix it.”
President Trump announced Wednesday night that he would hold a press conference on Thursday from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
The former president’s announcement came as Ms Harris is surging in the polls and drawing large crowds to her events, and as her campaign tries to make her lack of media interviews a campaign issue.
Harris has not taken formal questions from reporters since President Biden announced on July 21 that he would not seek re-election and she became the top candidate for the Democratic nomination.
“Kamala refused to be interviewed because her team realized she couldn’t answer the questions. Much like Biden couldn’t answer the questions, but for a different reason,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “He’s just ‘no good’ and she’s just ‘incompetent.'”
A Trump campaign spokesman responded to Grisham’s comments in a statement to The Hill, saying, “She should focus on Washington’s Bombay Club, not politics.”
