Stephanie Grisham Says Donald Trump Is 'Melting Down' and Surrounded by 'Sycophants' After Banning News Outlets From the White House

Stephanie Grisham, former press secretary to President Donald Trump, attacked her ex-boss after he banned several news organizations from the White House.

Grisham said Trump is "so out of touch," and claimed that he was "melting down" over negative coverage during the Friday, September 18, episode of CNN's The Source (via Mediaite).

Grisham is a former aide to Trump now turned critic, with plenty to say about the president's plans to limit media access.

Grisham discussed her opinions regarding the White House banning the press corps (CNN, MS NOW, Politico) while speaking with The Source host Brianna Keilar.

"I was actually, as press secretary, tasked with getting the press corps off the White House grounds," Grisham admitted. "He wanted everybody kicked out, not just the few that you guys are dealing with right now. I’m sure it’ll get bigger. Obviously, I never completed that task, but that’s something that I knew was going to happen."

She questioned who or if anyone was limiting the actions of the president. Grisham said that she believed senior aides would be able to act as a check on the actions of the president; however, she said that Trump has "surrounded himself with sycophants" and lacks the "guardrails" that were present during his first term.

"I was hopeful that somebody like [Chief of Staff] Susie Wiles or [Deputy Chief of Staff] Dan Scavino would be there doing it, and maybe they are. I don’t know, but it seems like he has really surrounded himself with sycophants and doesn’t have the guardrails that we kind of had in Trump 1.0," she said.

In addition to expressing outrage over the ban on certain news organizations, Grisham argued that President Trump is focusing on the wrong issues. According to Grisham, the president "missed the point" in addressing the issues that matter most to ordinary citizens. She said that based upon her own perspective, he's missed the point because most everyday citizens are worried about economic hardships rather than having press access to events.

She used examples from her Midwest community where working class individuals struggle with grocery bills, work-related stress, etc. Grisham also further criticized the president for creating distractions with his battle with the press instead of dealing with real problems facing middle America.

"People can’t afford groceries, and, you know, people don’t care that the press can’t be on the White House grounds because they’re suffering, and he’s not doing anything but these silly projects and these silly little vanity, you know, issues that he’s doing," Grisham said. "So, once again, it’s just not good. It doesn’t look good. He’s so out of touch, and he’s melting down."

Grisham's ability to speak to Trump's mindset comes directly from her prior professional relationship with him. From July 2019 through April 2020, around nine months, Grisham worked as President Trump's White House press secretary. During that tenure, she never held a formal televised press briefing.

She eventually broke and published a book about her experiences in his administration. Since then she has publicly spoken against President Trump multiple times, including during subsequent campaigns. Trump and his allies have dismissed her criticism in the past, and the White House has not responded to her latest comments.