Melania Trump’s Communications Director Stephanie Grisham Named New White House Press Secretary

Stephanie Grisham, a former deputy press secretary to President Donald Trump who has been serving as communications director for First Lady Melania Trump, has been selected to replace outgoing White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

She will become the Trump administration’s third WH Press Secretary. Sanders is exiting at the end of the month after two years on the job; she replaced Sean Spicer in July 2017.

Melania Trump announced Grisham’s hire Tuesday via Twitter.

It’s unclear whether there will be a press conference introducing Grisham. Those events have become increasingly rare under Sanders; there hasn’t been a formal daily press briefing in more than three months, with President Trump mostly addressing press questions in quick-hit moments before boarding Marine One on the White House lawn.

Grisham has been a loyal aide to the Trumps since joining the presidential campaign in 2016. She was part of the transition team after the election and was a deputy press secretary under Spicer before moving to Melania Trump’s office.

There she has been a stalwart defender of the First Lady in the press, and was the author of the “It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House” email to reporters last fall that signaled the departure of deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel, a rare move from that side of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.