Former press secretary says she saw Trump share classified documents

KARAH RUCKER: ON THE HEELS OF THE RECENTLY RELEASED AUDIO RECORDING OF FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP REPORTEDLY DISCUSSING A CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT IN HIS POSSESSION, COMES NEW ALLEGATIONS FROM HIS OWN FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY. 

STEPHANIE GRISHAM SAID RECENTLY THAT TRUMP SHOWED TOP-SECRET GOVERNMENT PAPERS TO GUESTS AT HIS MAR-A-LAGO ESTATE IN FLORIDA. GRISHAM, WHO SERVED AS TRUMP’S CHIEF SPOKESPERSON FOR NINE MONTHS, TOLD MSNBC SHE WITNESSED IT ALL FIRST HAND.  

STEPHANIE GRISHAM | FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: “I WATCHED HIM SHOW DOCUMENTS TO PEOPLE AT MAR-A-LAGO ON THE DINING ROOM PATRIO. SO, HE HAS NO RESPECT FOR CLASSIFIED INFORMATION, NEVER DID.”

RUCKER: TRUMP’S CAMPAIGN TOLD THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER IN A STATEMENT THAT GRISHAM IS “LYING.” SAYING THEY WON’T DIGNIFY A DISGRUNTLED, LOW-LEVEL FORMER STAFFER. ACCORDING TO THE EXAMINER, GRISHAM LAUGHED AT THE INSULT. SAYING THE POSITION OF PRESS SECRETARY AND DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE EAST AND WEST WINGS IS NOT A LOW-LEVEL JOB. 

THIS ALLEGATION THAT COULD IMPLICATE THE FORMER PRESIDENT IS A STORY BEING COVERED LARGELY BY LEFT-LEANING AND CENTER OUTLETS.

A HANDFUL OF RIGHT-LEANING OUTLETS LIKE THE NEW YORK POST AND WASHINGTON EXAMINER ARE COVERING THE TIT-FOR-TAT BETWEEN TRUMP AND HIS FORMER EMPLOYEE.

IT’S CONSIDERED A MEDIA MISS ON THE RIGHT DUE TO HOW UNBALANCED THE SCALE OF COVERAGE IS. THIS TOOL CAN HELP A VIEWER WEIGH THE BIAS DISTRIBUTION OF A STORY – AND YOU CAN FIND IT AT S-A-N.COM.

TRUMP PLEADED NOT GUILTY LAST MONTH TO 37 COUNTS RELATED TO HIS ALLEGED MISHANDLING OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS. 

THE FEDERAL INDICTMENT FEATURED A PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT OF A RECORDING OF A JULY 20-21 MEETING AT HIS NEW JERSEY GOLF CLUB IN WHICH HE APPEARED TO SHOW OFF A CLASSIFIED PENTAGON DOCUMENT HE HAD TAKEN FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

TRUMP: “THIS TOTALLY WINS MY CASE, YOU KNOW. EXCEPT IT IS, LIKE, HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL. SECRET. THIS IS SECRET INFORMATION. LOOK, LOOK AT THIS…”

ON THE RECORDING, RELEASED BY CNN LAST WEEK, TRUMP CAN BE HEARD APPARENTLY DISCUSSING “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” SECRET INFORMATION WITH OTHER PEOPLE. YOU CAN ALSO CLEARLY HEAR THE SOUND OF SHUFFLING PAPERS. 

BUT TRUMP TOLD ABC NEWS HE WASN’T HOLDING THE SECRET DOCUMENT DISCUSSED IN THE RECORDING. SAYING QUOTE: “I WAS TALKING AND JUST HOLDING UP PAPERS AND TALKING ABOUT THEM, BUT I HAD NO DOCUMENTS. I DIDN’T HAVE ANY DOCUMENTS.”

TRUMP SAID THE MOMENT CAN BE BOILED DOWN TO A BOUT OF BRAVADO, AND THAT THE RECORDING ACTUALLY EXONERATES HIM. IT WILL BE ULTIMATELY BE UP TO THE COURTS TO DECIDE. TRUMP’S TRIAL IS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN AUGUST 14TH.