he is there with people from his family,
a whole bunch of people.
Don junior, Eric,
Tiffany, Trump
all sitting in the front row
during closing arguments.
And of course, everyone's taking note of
who is not there, of Ivanka and Melania
not showing up
for a single day of this trial.
Thank you very much.
Where's the lawyer?
Now, from now, Stephanie Grisham, former
Trump White House press secretary.
So, Stephanie,
I want to give some context
when that, reporter
said, where's Melania?
Terry, who's sitting here, said,
that reporter has said that to Trump
every single day.
So every single day
that has been yelled
as he's walked in that courtroom.
Do you think it bothers him to hear
reporters asking, Where's Melania?
And also at times, where's Ivanka?
The two, who are noticeably never there.
Oh, absolutely.
I know it bothers him.
That kind of thing would bother him
if if Mrs.
Trump wasn't at some event
and it was really noted,
he would definitely bring it up with her.
So I'm sure in this context,
it's definitely really bothering him.
All right. So there's a source close to the Trump
campaign,
telling CNN that it's possible
that Ivanka and Jared
could make a joint appearance
before the verdict.
we're also hearing
Ivanka specific concerns
about her kids awareness of the case
because they're older now.
And obviously, at the heart of it is,
their grandfather,
sleeping with a porn star.
Do you think Ivana and her father
have actually talked
about this in any sort of an honest way?
Stephanie
I imagine there have been conversations,
but I don't know about how honest
we're going to get.
I'm sure she has said, you know,
I just want to keep the kids out of this
and but more of,
not not about the porn star angle,
but just, you know,
I don't want them to realize
what's happening to you, father.
I think that would be the way she would.
She would stay put it.
It doesn't surprise.
Yeah, it's. She would been it.
it doesn't surprise me
that she's not there.
And as I've talked to many, many times,
of course.
Does it surprise me
that Melania is not there?
This family is really focused on optics.
They are always focused on optics.
And so I know that today
they think they're showing this.
You know the four of them are there
and that's good for the optics.
And then of course
the boys got to go out
and shout over each other
and talk about how horrible this is.
but, you know,
I think that Melania and Yvonne
thinking of their own optics
and they haven't been here
the whole time,
and I'm just not sure
showing up now would do anything
but cause more speculation.
I mean,
do you think there's any chance
that Melania shows up?
I mean, obviously at the heart of
this is something I know
you've talked extensively about,
and she's she has strong feelings.
and it was a humiliating incident.
The way the whole thing happened
and was, was covered,
for her,
nonetheless, for being there
certainly does make a huge
statement in his favor.
there's there
I would be absolutely floored
if she showed up.
There's just no way.
And again,
she hasn't shown up this whole time now.
And so in her mind,
I think she would think
that she was caving
or even look weak to suddenly show up.
Now it's hard for me to explain,
but that is, I imagine,
what her way of thinking would be,
because I'm sure the campaign
has continued to ask
if she would show up.
I'm sure he's asked a couple of times
for her to show up.
I'm sure it's crossed her mind,
but at this point
I would absolutely be floored
if she showed up.
All right, well, Stephanie,
thank you very much.
Always great to see you and thank you.
joining us now is Stephanie
Winston Wolkoff, a former senior adviser
to Melania Trump and author of the book
Melania and Me The Rise
and Fall of My Friendship
with the First Lady.
She's also an ally of the key
witness in the prosecution
case, Michael Cohen.
Stephanie, thanks for joining.
So you and Michael Cohen
have a lot in common.
two former Trump family
insiders who now find yourselves
very much on the outside.
I know you and Michael
Cohen have become good friends.
Have you spoken to him
since his testimony?
I actually ran into Michael
this morning on the street
on my way here.
he was on his way
to getting a cup of coffee,
with some of his friends.
And,
I think
one of the most important things
that people need to remember about
this case
is that Michael Cohen is not on trial.
And I'm not here to defend Michael.
Michael did what he did,
and he's admitted to all of those things.
You know,
I mean, I listen to the news constantly
and to continuously,
you know, every time he's introduced
you know, his new favorite,
you know, terminology is calling him a gloat,
the greatest liar of all time.
And I think what's important
for people to remember
is that the notion that we could sit here
and joke about that
almost while the, you know, Republican,
you know,
presidential nominee is someone who
committed over 30
false and misleading statements
while he was the president
of the United States.
You know,
he doesn't get that type of introduction.
So I also think
the facts speak for themselves,
I really do.
I was around
during that time with Michael,
and that's what made us such,
you know, close allies was
we were together working for
he was working for Donald Trump
and I was working for Melania Trump.
And we did have a lot of, time together
where we both witnessed
certain activities and behaviors
that only we would know.
And, and, again, had spoken about.
Yeah. I think you were referring
to the Washington Post, fact checkers.
tabulation of 30,000 of, falsehoods
that Donald Trump told us,
president of the United States,
if I unless I'm mistaken,
just a just about
there were so many different I apologize.
There were so many different,
you know, papers
that did come out somewhere 30.
Some are 31,000.
But around that number. Yes.
so I want to read a portion of Trump's
attorney, Todd Blanch,
his closing argument.
He's the one,
that referred to Michael Cohen as the
the greatest player of all time,
that you were referring to.
and in this
part of his closing argument,
Todd Blanchard, defense attorney,
is talking
about the release of the Access
Hollywood tape, quote,
this was an extremely personal
event for President Trump and nobody.
And again,
I am just going to state the obvious.
Nobody wants their family
to be subjected to that sort of thing.
Doesn't matter
whether you were running for office,
doesn't matter
if you were running The Apprentice.
It just doesn't matter
if you're just a normal,
everyday person in the city.
Nobody wants their family
exposed to that type of story, unquote.
In this telling of the Access Hollywood
tape story,
the the release of it,
the leak of it
to the Washington Post,
in October 2016, Mr.
Blanches is portraying
Donald Trump
and his family
as victims of the Access Hollywood
tape release.
I was wondering what you make
of that argument.
I can't, you know, imagine being, you
know, claiming
someone is the victim
when those are the words
that came out of this individual's mouth
and his family, really was concerned.
I mean, I had lunch with Melania
several days after that.
She had canceled her
Anderson Cooper interview.
I wrote about it in The Daily Beast.
today,
where for me,
it was so shocking to think that Melania
was willing
to put aside the interview
and actually have lunch to discuss.
You know,
unfortunately, that,
you know,
having the word president in
and the word used y in the same sentence.
Now, this was more about, you know, her.
She was she was nervous.
This was the first time
that Melania felt
that the campaign was in trouble.
We knew that Reince Priebus,
we knew that everyone around Trump,
that didn't, that weren't as close to him
as they are now.
We're ready to jump ship.
And that was a very big concern to her.
The campaign meant everything.
And I'll never forget,
even when the book fired, Fury came out,
I mean, it was very important
for her to let me know
that the messaging
was that on that night,
it was she and Donald
who, worked so hard together
to make sure that he won
and was victorious.
So I really do know this family,
and I really do understand
their,
complicity with one
another to make sure that it's
win at all costs.
I wish I could say otherwise.
there's no reason,
you know, to claim otherwise.
If it weren't the case.
they've learned how to work as a family
to make sure that their
perception is constantly,
on hold.
three of his adult
children, have been to court this week.
Eric Trump, Donald Trump jr,
and Tiffany Trump,
Eric and Don junior
were in fact mentioned
by the defense attorneys
because they wrote different
they cut different checks
to Michael Cohen, from their positions
at the Trump Organization
and the defense, noted,
if this was a conspiracy,
how come neither of these two,
testified,
kind of trying to use the fact
that they were there, their present.
the prosecution could have called them.
They didn't, which was interesting.
Something else that's interesting.
I'm wondering about your perspective
on is the fact that neither Ivanka Trump,
his the president's daughter,
older daughter
nor his wife, Melania Trump,
attended, any of the court proceedings.
Does that surprise you at all?
if you're alright, I'd like to address
first, Donald Junior and Eric.
Sure. Of course.
it was during the United States
Attorney General District
of Columbia case
where I was deposed
as well as were they.
And Don Jr's
deposition clearly stated
that once Donald Trump became president,
it was he, Eric and Allen
Weisselberg,
who were going to be
signing off on the checks.
and there were a lot of other,
statements
that were given
that I think people need to look back
at during that time,
including the fact that, Weisselberg,
you know,
was involved in
in the time of the campaign,
so was Michael Cohen,
and so was I, but unofficially.
So I think it's really important
that people understand
the people closest to the Trumps
are sometimes not made official
for certain reasons.
there's the capability to do more
as far as, you know, Melania
not being in the courtroom,
I think that's saving, you know.
again,
we're back to the art of distraction.
If they really, really think that during,
the verdict,
if that's going to really shine
this darkness over the verdict and shine
light on Melania,
to take away from what's going on,
I think that is the only possibility
of her showing up.
Ivanka, she's,
you know, tried to whitewash
her entire involvement
in the Trump White House.
she's been doing a great job
on her Instagram.
But having been behind
the white House walls and seeing
Ivanka and Jared s involvement
and everything
that has happened up to this date.
you can't whitewash that.
And so I understand
that she has young children
and she doesn't want them to hear,
the disrespectful and disgraceful things
that Stormy Daniels
had to discuss during this trial,
because Trump has still maintained
that there was no affair
with either she or Karen McDougal.
I think otherwise, you know,
they're going to keep themselves
as distance themselves
as much as possible.
All right. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff,
thanks so much for your time.
Appreciate it.