Former Trump official Stephanie Grisham to speak at the Democratic convention

Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham will speak at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, one of several Republican voices this week meant to showcase the ‘extremism’ of Donald Trump. 
 
“I didn’t ever imagine I’d be giving a speech at a Democratic convention But seeing who Donald Trump truly is and what he is capable of the world needs me to stand up and speak out,” Grisham told NBC News. 
 
Grisham worked as a press aide for Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 before she joined the White House to serve as the first lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff and press secretary. Grisham then served as White House press secretary for a few months in early 2019, and then was promoting to the Communications Director position before she resigned from the administration. 
 
Grisham quit within a few hours of the Capitol Hill invasion by Trump’s supporters, on the 6th of January 2021. In interviews with the congressional committees which probed into the attack, she stated something to the effect that she had complied with requests. 
 
Grisham made these statements during an NBC News’ “Meet the Press” interview in October 2021 when she said that she had attempted to resign a couple of times, but Melania Trump dissuaded her. 
 
“Jan. 6, of course, was my breaking point,” she said at the time, referring to the publication of the Cassidy report that debunked the conspiracy theory. “And I was really proud that I was, well, the first in the administration to resign. ” 
 
In the statement she gave to NBC News, she said, “Although I do not always agree with the policy positions taken by Kamala Harris, I am glad to do so because I believe she will stand for our liberties and will not deceive the world about America’s character. ” 
 
Other Republicans set to deliver a similar message throughout the convention are former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, of Illinois, who is to address the nation on Thursday. 
 
“While Donald Trump keeps vilifying the moderates and independents, the Harris-Walz campaign has signalled that our side has room for those of you who have had enough of the extremism of Donald Trump and want to Save Our Democracy!” a Harris campaign official observed. 
 
When Grisham gives a speech at the convention, she will tell other Republicans to “stand up and join me” in supporting Harris “to make sure Donald Trump never sits in the White House again,” the official said. 
 
The Biden re-election team began to reach out to some of its own former counterparts on the other side, and the Harris campaign has as well. 
 
“We will be featuring proud Republican voters in our convention schedule and let them tell America why they are putting country first and why they are voting for Vice President Harris,”, said Austin Weatherford, the campaign’s national Republican engagement director. 
 
The Democratic campaign has this month activated its brand new ‘Republicans for Harris’ to contact the Democrat-leaning Republicans who the campaign believes voted for Trump last time. 
 
It has placed a special emphasis on promoting Project 2025, the year which is a vision of a second Trump’s presidency developed by a conservative think tank. As in recent weeks, Trump and his allies anticipated that they could easily dissociate themselves from the document. 
 
Up so far, the Harris campaign has publicized several GOP endorsements and will also spend more on paid media targeting perhaps pivotal swing state voters after spending seven figures on it, officials said. 
 
It also intends to continue shooting raw interviews with GOP individuals for later use in a ground-up social media ad campaign. 
 
Some members of the Harris team are communicating with Republicans and right-wing groups that may get involved in the campaign, and they will actively seek more support from Republicans in the last 80 days of the campaign, two aides of Harris said.