Melania Trump Not Telling the Truth About Jan. 6, Stephanie Grisham Says

Stephanie Grisham, the ex-chief of staff for Melania Trump, has disputed her former boss's account of what happened on the day of the U.S. Capitol riot.

Grisham's comments were in response to an interview the former first lady gave Fox News Digital in which she said she been "unaware" of what had been going on as the riot took place on January 6, 2021 because she was busy in the White House.

Trump said she had organized "several months in advance" for a team of photographers, archivists and designers to carry out the work on January 6 "on behalf of our nation."

Trump said it was her "obligation to record the contents of the White House's historic rooms, including taking archival photographs of all the renovations." CNN has said this duty mainly lies with the White House curator and the White House Historical Association.

However, when asked on CNN whether it was likely that Trump did not know about the U.S. Capitol riots following another January 6 committee hearing on Thursday, Grisham responded: "The short answer is no."

"I don't want to take away from the importance of today or tonight actually, but I will say that everything she said seems to me like an attempted distraction actually on behalf of her husband," she told the network.

"I can dispute every single thing that she said today with emails, with texts. And also I sent her a text saying, 'do you want to condemn violence?'" Grisham said. "If she didn't know what I was talking about? Why didn't she say 'what violence?' Instead, she just said 'no.'

In June, Grisham tweeted out a screenshot of a text message conversation she allegedly had with the former first lady on Jan. 6, 2021, in which Trump purportedly refused to condemn the violence at the Capitol.

"So it just rings to me as not true. It rings to me as a distraction," Grisham told CNN on Thursday. "It's nonsense and it takes away from what's going to happen tonight."

When contacted for comment, Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington referred Newsweek to the former first lady's statement which her office tweeted and was carried by Fox.

The statement also said: "I always condemn violence. Had I been fully informed of all the details, naturally, I would have immediately denounced the violence that occurred at the Capitol building."

During the Fox News Digital interview, Trump gave her side of the story and said that Grisham "was not in the White House on January 6."

Trump also accused Grisham of a "dereliction of duty," given that as chief of staff she should have given "detailed briefings surrounding our Nation's important issues."

Trump said that Grisham had "failed to provide insight and information" into the events of January 6 and said that her "recent betrayals are a last-ditch attempt to resuscitate her ruined career and reputation."

Grisham started her tenure at the White House in the first lady's office, then served as White House press secretary before returning to the East Wing.

Grisham wrote a tell-all memoir titled I'll Take Your Questions Now, which criticized the behavior of former President Donald Trump and his inner circle.

It also described the tensions within the first couple and alleged that Melania Trump had distanced herself from White House matters so much that she was asleep on the night of the election he lost.

Update 07/23/22, 4 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with a response from the Trump team.