Updated Aug 20, 2024 - Politics & Policy

Ex-Trump aide: Former president called supporters "basement dwellers"

Rebecca Falconer

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham (L) listens to U.S. President Donald Trump talk to reporters before he boards Marine One and departing the White House November 08, 2019 in Washington, DC. — Then-White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham (L) listens to then-President Trump at Marine One at the White House in November 2019. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Former Trump aide Stephanie Grisham alleged during a Democratic National Convention speech on Tuesday that ex-President Trump privately "mocks his supporters."

Why it matters: Grisham served as White House press secretary and communications director for the Republican presidential candidate, and as former first lady Melania Trump's chief of staff.

What she's saying: "Behind closed doors, Trump mocks his supporters — calls them 'basement dwellers,'" Grisham said during her DNC speech in Chicago.

"When people were dying in the ICU, he was mad that cameras weren't watching him," she alleged in an apparent reference to the early stages of the COVID pandemic.
"He has no empathy. He has no morals and no fidelity to the truth."

The other side: When asked for comment on Grisham's remarks, a Trump campaign spokesperson in an email called the Republican presidential nominee's former aide "a dummy and a liar."

Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, tweeted that Grisham had "botched that speech."

Go deeper: Raskin: Ex-Trump press secretary gave "a lot of names" in Jan. 6 conversation

Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from a Trump campaign spokesperson.

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Ex-Trump aide: Former president called supporters "basement dwellers"

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