Critics might think the title I’ll Take Your Questions Now is a tad fanciful, given Grisham never held a televised news briefing, but she is considered a “consummate Trump insider” and one of the “Trump originals,” according to The Washington Post.
Her 352-page parting shot from the White House—which she quit in the wake of the January 6 riot by Trump supporters—includes choice tidbits about the former president’s conduct on the world stage and his complicated family life. Excerpts from the memoir have been published in the Post and The New York Times.
Trump’s spokesperson Liz Harrington told Newsweek the book was “another pitiful attempt to cash in on the president’s strength and sell lies about the Trump family.”
Here are some of the most eyebrow-raising claims in the Harper Collins book.
Trump Pretended to Talk Tough with Putin, Who Used Ploys to Distract Him
During the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, which took place in June 2019, Grisham recounts that after journalists left the room where Trump and Vladimir Putin were meeting, the U.S. president leaned over and gave his Russian counterpart an assurance of sorts.
“OK, I’m going to act a little tougher with you for a few minutes. But it’s for the cameras, and after they leave, we’ll talk. You understand,” Trump said, according to the book.
Putin was also trying to throw a curveball or two to challenge Trump. The Russian leader repeatedly coughed and cleared his throat in a bid to spook the renowned germophobe.
Meanwhile, in a detail that was picked up by the Russian media, Grisham said Trump’s adviser, Fiona Hill, had told her that Putin had deliberately chosen an attractive female interpreter for their discussion.
“As the meeting began, Fiona Hill leaned over and asked me if I had noticed Putin’s translator, who was a very attractive brunette woman with long hair, a pretty face and a wonderful figure,” the book says.
“She proceeded to tell me that she suspected the woman had been selected by Putin specifically to distract our president.”
Trump and his Aides Forged a Culture of Lying
“Casual dishonesty filtered through the White House as if it were in the air conditioning system,” according to Grisham.
One example she cited was Trump’s mysterious visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which was not explained to the media.
The book hints that Trump had gone for a colonoscopy, although it does not use that word.
He underwent the “common procedure” without general anesthesia because he could not bear the prospect of having Vice President Mike Pence in power even for a short period, Grisham said.
The reason for the secrecy was that he didn’t want to be “the butt of a joke” on late-night TV and declined using his experience to demystify the procedure and save lives.
“As with COVID, he was too wrapped up in his own ego and his own delusions about his invincibility,” the book says.
Sexist Language and Lewd Comments
Grisham said Trump had taken a shine to an unnamed young press aide, but she tried to keep the woman away from him.
The book said the president repeatedly invited the young aide to his Air Force One cabin, including once to “look at her…” followed by an expletive describing her rear end.
Grisham also said Trump had ranted about and insulted the looks of E. Jean Carroll, who has accused him of raping her in the 1990s. He denies the allegation.
“‘You just deny it,’” he told Grisham in the Oval Office, ’that’s what you do in every situation. Right, Stephanie?" according to a book excerpt in the Times.
Trump also called Grisham from Air Force One to tell her that his penis was not small or toadstool-shaped, as claimed in an interview by Stormy Daniels, who said she had had an affair with him.
According to Grisham, the former president once asked her then-boyfriend, a fellow Trump aide, if she was good in bed.
Tension with Melania Trump
The book describes how Trump’s wife distanced herself from White House matters to such an extent that she was asleep on the night of the election he lost.
Nicknamed “Rapunzel” by the Secret Service because she seldom left the White House residence, Melania Trump was “basically unleashed” in an attempt to combat the allegations about affairs with Daniels and other women.
Her acts of quiet rebellion included omitting her husband from photos and tweets, and turning up on the arm of a handsome military aide for Trump’s first State of the Union address, the book says.
She told Grisham, according to the book, that she did not believe her husband’s denials following the women’s allegations, saying: “Oh, please, are you kidding me?”
Meanwhile, the former president was angered when his wife wore a jacket bearing the slogan “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” while visiting migrant children at the Texas-Mexico border.
After a damage-control session on the plane, Melania was told when they got back to the White House that her husband wanted to see her in the Oval Office, in what was the first time he had summoned her that way in front of staff.
He yelled at her and came up with the solution of tweeting that the jacket was simply a message to the Fake News Media.
‘Princess’ Ivanka and ‘Slim Reaper’ Jared
Grisham paints an unfavorable picture of Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, who both held senior White House posts.
Ivanka Trump’s nickname among White House staff and even the first lady was “The Princess.”
Meanwhile, Grisham called Kushner “The Slim Reaper” for his habit of inserting himself into other people’s projects and leaving them to take the blame when he messed them up.
The couple had tried to breach protocol on a state visit to the U.K by attempting to push their way into meeting Queen Elizabeth II, with Grisham writing that they “thought they were the royal family of the United States.”
“I had shared with Mrs. Trump many times my opinion that if we lost re-election in 2020 it would be because of Jared,” Grisham wrote, describing him as Trump’s “real chief of staff.”
Grisham added: “She didn’t disagree with me.”
