Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary under the Trump administration, addressed the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday to show her support for Vice President Kamala Harris this week, saying she “has my vote.”
In remarks on the second night of the convention, Grisham recalled her tenure working for former President Donald Trump and said he “mocks his supporters” and calls them “basement dwellers.”
Trump has “no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth,” she said.
Grisham recalled asking then-first lady Melania Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, about sharing a message on social media to condemn the violence at the U.S. Capitol, only to be told “no.” She then resigned from her post at the White House, a line that drew applause from the crowd of Democratic delegates.
“I love my country more than my party,” Grisham said. “Kamala Harris tells the truth. She respects the American people and she has my vote.”
Grisham is one of several Republicans to appear at the Democratic National Convention. Ahead of her speech, she encouraged GOP voters to join her to “ensure Donald Trump never returns to the White House.”
“I never thought I’d be speaking at a Democratic convention,” Grisham said in a statement. “But, after seeing firsthand who Donald Trump really is, and the threat he poses to our country, I feel very strongly about speaking out.”
Grisham, who worked in a number of different roles at the Trump White House before resigning in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack, said while she doesn’t agree with Harris across the board, she is “proud to be supporting her” presidential bid. She said that Harris will “defend our freedoms and represent our nation with honesty and integrity.” NBC News first reported the development.
The former press secretary won’t be the only former Trump official at the convention this week. Former Trump national security adviser Olivia Troye is also set to speak in the coming days, a Harris campaign official told CBS News. Delegates will also hear from John Giles, the mayor of Mesa, Arizona; former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan; and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger — all of whom are Republicans.
Kinzinger said Tuesday that he would be speaking on Thursday.
At the first night of the convention, the DNC featured testimonials from Republicans who say they previously voted for Trump but now plan to support Harris. Austin Weatherford, the Harris-Walz campaign’s Republican engagement director, said the programming “is just the latest effort by our campaign to reach out to anti-Trump Republicans,” adding in a statement that the campaign will “continue reminding Republican and independent voters that Donald Trump doesn’t represent their values.”
The Harris-Walz campaign launched the outreach to Republicans who may be disenchanted with Trump earlier this month, after President Biden stepped aside and endorsed Harris. The Biden campaign had previously expanded efforts to target supporters of former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and moderate Republicans more broadly, like with the hiring of Weatherford, the longtime chief of staff to Kinzinger.