Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said former first lady Melania Trump was "very wary" of Rudy Giuliani meeting her husband in the West Wing, according to testimony regarding January 6.
On May 18 of this year, Grisham told January 6 committee members Liz Cheney and Pete Aguilar that Melania Trump had developed a strong distrust for certain individuals around the president at that time.
"[Melania Trump] didn't trust Mark Meadows, is what she told me," Grisham told the committee. "She was very angry with him about his treatment and the things he was doing to me personally.
"She was very wary of Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, a lot of the people who were coming up into the residence and talking with the president."
The former first lady would call Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel to discuss polling because, as Grisham put it, she "didn't fully trust the campaign necessarily."
When asked by interviewers where the distrust originated regarding former Trump legal team member Giuliani and the others, Grisham said that Melania Trump "felt [President Trump] was letting a lot of people who were maybe harmful to the president, giving him bad advice" into the West Wing or their residence.
"Mrs. Trump never liked it when people would tell Trump what he wanted to hear rather than the truth or the reality of the situation, and she felt that Meadows was always just playing into his hand," Grisham added.
"With all that is happening around the world, I continue to be astounded by what the media chooses to spend their time and resources covering," Ted Goodman, Giuliani's communications and political adviser, told Newsweek. "Mayor Giuliani—the greatest prosecutor in contemporary American history—has nothing to say in regards to Mrs. Grisham's claims and assertions."
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that "credibility will be everything" if the former president and those within his inner circle are ultimately prosecuted.
"Stephanie Grisham's testimony that Melania Trump didn't trust Rudy Giuliani is telling," Rahmani said. "The former first lady reportedly believed that Giuliani and others were giving him bad advice and playing into his conspiracy theories."
"It's bad when your own wife doesn't believe 'Stop the Steal,'" he added. "Though Melania may not be called as a witness because of the spousal privilege, it provides special counsel Jack Smith more evidence that Trump was being told that he lost the election and that he insisted on the 'big lie' anyway."
Other legal minds also believe that Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, plays an integral role in Trump's potential culpability.
Attorney and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner called Meadows a potential "cooperating witness" who could provide more background on Trump and the administration.
Attorney Ryan Goodman, who previously served as the special counsel to the general counsel of the Department of Defense, said it's likely that Meadows has already "flipped" to lessen his own legal burden.
"Meadows' liability continues to deepen," attorney Norman Eisen told Newsweek. "The more trouble he's in, the more likely he is to cut a deal and testify against Trump."
Aside from Meadows, the January 6 committee announced several criminal referrals last week of others in Trump's orbit, including: John Eastman, a lawyer who advised Trump; Kenneth Chesebro, another lawyer who advised Trump; Jeffrey Clark, an assistant attorney general during the U.S. Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021; and Giuliani.
Donald Trump has used the withdrawal of a subpoena from the January 6 committee, which clears the former president from having to testify, as impetus to once again claim the 2020 election was "rigged."
Aside from January 6 and the events leading up to the Capitol riots, Trump faces multiple other legal troubles that involve his taxes, fraud questions related to the Trump Organization, and a rape allegation by journalist E. Jean Carroll, for which a trial is scheduled to begin this spring as part of a dual sexual assault and defamation case.
Newsweek reached out to attorneys for Powell and members of the Trump 2024 team for comment.
Update 12/30/22, 5:21 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Giuliani's spokesperson.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek reporter based in Michigan. His focus is reporting on Ukraine and Russia, along with social ... Read more
