Former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham criticized former First Lady Melania Trump for launching a new money-making scheme just as her husband’s hush money trial was starting.
Mrs. Trump announced last Sunday that she was selling a signature necklace just in time for Mother’s Day.
Melania’s “Her Love & Gratitude” necklace features a three-leaf clover-shaped pendant with room for custom engraving. The $245 necklace also features Melania’s signature on the back.
Mrs. Trump said the Mother’s Day necklace was a way to “express immense gratitude and honor all mothers.”
In an appearance on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” last Monday, Burnett asked Grisham, who formally served as Melania’s chief of staff before becoming press secretary, if she thought the money made in the former first lady’s necklace venture would go toward her husband’s legal fees.
Grisham laughed off the suggestion, saying that it was more likely that Melania was selling the necklaces “for herself.”
Grisham told Erin Burnett that if she was still working for Melania, she would have advised her not to launch the necklace sale right before Trump’s criminal trial because it was “probably not a very good look.”
Grisham added that she would have advised Melania to donate a portion of the proceeds to “some kind of an initiative for children.” She also noted that since Melania’s mother just died in January, the former first lady could have announced that a portion of the proceeds would go to Alzheimer’s or cancer research.
The “Her Love & Gratitude” necklace isn’t the former first lady’s first foray into marketing.
In late 2021, Melania launched a non-fungible token (NFT) called “Melania’s Vision” that sold for roughly $150. The following year, Melania sold a collection of brass Christmas ornaments. The six ornaments came with corresponding NFTs and sold for $35 to $45. A portion of the proceeds for the ornaments went to Melania’s group “Fostering the Future.”
