Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham will speak at the Democratic National Convention this week, making her one of the most high profile former-Trump-allies-turned-critics at the convention.
Who is Grisham?
Grisham first served as a press aide to then-President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. She also later served as press secretary to former first lady Melania Trump.
Grisham briefly served as White House press secretary, though she never held a briefing with reporters.
She transitioned to a communications director role but resigned from the Trump administration after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Since then, Grisham has become an outspoken critic of Trump.
Why is she speaking at the convention?
Grisham’s appearance at the Chicago convention was first reported by NBC News. She’s among several notable anti-Trump Republicans who are set to deliver remarks.
In a statement to NBC News, Grisham said she never thought she would speak at the Democratic convention but “after seeing firsthand who Donald Trump really is, and the threat he poses to our country,” she felt “very strongly about speaking out.”
Grisham said in a statement that she doesn’t agree with Vice President Harris on everything but is “proud to support her” because she knows she will “defend our freedoms and represent our nation with honesty and integrity.”
Grisham is expected to urge her fellow Republicans to “step up and join” her in supporting Harris to ensure Trump “never returns to the White House,” NBC News reported.
Why are Republicans joining Harris?
After Harris announced her campaign last month, her team has welcomed anti-Trump Republican voters to join the effort.
The Harris campaign said it plans on hosting Grisham and other Republicans, including former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.); Mesa, Ariz., Mayor John Giles; Olivia Troye, a former homeland security aide to former Vice President Mike Pence; and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan.
“We will be putting patriotic Republicans front and center in our convention programming to explain, in their own words, why they are putting country first and supporting Vice President Harris,” Austin Weatherford, the Harris campaign’s director of Republican engagement, said in a statement.
In an interview last week, Duncan, who is set to deliver remarks at the convention Wednesday, had a message for Republican voters: “Just because you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, doesn’t mean you’re a Democrat.”
“It just means you’re a patriot,” he said. “You’re doing your duty as an American to step up to the plate and reclaim this country’s future.”