Donald Trump's hush money trial has begun, and Melania Trump's former aide believes this must have worried the former president.
Stephanie Grisham, the former secretary and communications director of the Trump administration and Melania's former chief of staff, appeared on MSNBC Sunday. During the interview, she described how Trump may have felt over the weekend before the trial began, claiming that he was likely concerned, particularly about how this judicial ordeal would affect his wife.
"You know there's so many lawsuits and trials potentially going to happen. But this one, for me, I know is personally embarrassing to him, and it will personally trouble him when it comes to his family and certainly with his wife, Melania," Grisham said.
"We were in the White House [when] he was first hit with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, the Playboy playmate. I was with Mrs. Trump the whole time and she was not happy about it. And many days, she talked to me about how unhappy she was about what was happening. She chose not to go to the State of the Union with him. She chose not to walk to Marine One with him. And he fears her. I would say she is the one person that I think Donald Trump really fears and respect, so I guarantee this is not a great weekend or Sunday for Donald Trump right now," she added.
Alex Witt, the journalist, asked Grisham for his thoughts on Trump's former lawyer Ty Cobb's recommendation that Trump accept his involvement with Daniels and McDougal rather than deny it. Since Grisham claimed that Trump feared his wife, Witt inquired whether the former first lady was one of the reasons Trump refused to admit to the alleged relationships.
"If he's not confessing, is it because of Melania and him not wanting to hurt her, make her angry or be on the receiving end of her wrath?" Witt asked.
"Yeah," Grisham responded. "Whatever we submit in the court of public opinion and also, honestly, with his family, if he did just fess up and say, 'This was 15 years ago, and I made a mistake' and being humble about it, it will go a long way. But legally, it probably would not be good because, then, he is saying that the payoff happens."
Grisham was confident that Trump would never admit to having relationships or accepting hush money, not because of Melania, but because of his own mentality.
"But he, of course, will deny it until the day he dies and it's just who he is," she added.
Meanwhile, insiders claimed Melania supported her husband. She has recently been seen attending his charity events.
She was last seen with Trump at John Paulson's luxurious home on April 6, and she was allegedly in good spirits at the time. On April 20, the former First Lady will hold a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans, the largest organization dedicated to LGBT conservatives and supporters, at Mar-a-Lago.
Katherine Jellison, a history professor at Ohio University who specializes on presidential couples, predicted Melania's return to the spotlight. She says she is "easing her way back into public life and the Trump campaign."
