Stephanie Grisham speaks out about Donald Trump’s infamous COVID-19 speech. “I’ll Take Your Questions Now.”Grisham asserts that Donald Trump ushered the speech forward, not himself, but Ivanka Trump or Jared Kushner. A preview of the book is available to be viewed here Vanity FairGrisham wrote that members of the Coronavirus Taskforce, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, met with Trump in the Oval Office on March 11, 2020. Ivanka and Kushner were also added to this group.
“In the middle of all the discussion, Ivanka kept chiming in, ‘But I think there should probably be an address to the nation tonight,'”Grisham wrote. Ivanka made this point while others felt that they weren’t ready for a speech. “At one point I called Ivanka out on her plan with what seemed an obvious question. ‘What is it we’d be saying?’ Grisham asked. “I was astonished to discover that her father had sent her a message.
Ivanka wanted her dad to appear on television so she got Kushner the speech. Grisham pointed out that the turnaround was so quick that there wasn’t time for fact-checking and vetting of the message. Grisham explained to us that Trump’s speech contained misinformation and caused huge repercussions on the White House team. “[A] line of reporters formed outside my office. Of course, it was our problem, not Jared’s or Ivanka’s…”Grisham stated that Trump and his family did not take responsibility for the problems that arose from the speech’s aftermath.