Stephanie Grisham dubs Lindsey Graham ‘Senator Freeloader’

‘He would show up at Mar-a-Lago or Bedminster to play free rounds of golf, stuff his face with free food, and hang out with Trump and his celebrity pals’

Former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham has dubbed South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham “Senator Freeloader” for his alleged extensive use of Trump properties giving him access to free food and rounds of golf.

Ms Grisham wrote in her book I’ll Take Your Questions Now, published on Tuesday, that Mr Graham was “almost as frequent a guest at Trump properties as I was,” adding “okay, “I’m exaggerating, but not by much”.

“The difference, of course, is that I was there to work,” she noted.

She wrote that Mr Graham was one of the “weirder ones” among the “various characters and hangers-on in Trump World”.

“And that’s saying something,” she noted. “He seemed almost schizophrenic. Some days he would be one of Trump’s most vigorous defenders; other days he was a harsh critic.”

Ms Grisham wrote that people around former President Donald Trump would tell him that “he couldn’t trust Graham, but Trump seemed to like him for whatever reason and I often wondered if he sought Lindsey’s approval”.

The former White House communications director and chief of staff and spokesperson for former first lady Melania Trump went on to say that Mr Graham was “using” Mr Trump to “mop up the freebies like there was no tomorrow”. She added that it “seems” like “he still is”.

“He would show up at Mar-a-Lago or Bedminster to play free rounds of golf, stuff his face with free food, and hang out with Trump and his celebrity pals,” Ms Grisham stated. “On one occasion, I came across him at Bedminster after he’d kicked out a White House staff member so he could take her room.”

“Senator Freeloader was sitting at a table by the pool, a big grin on his face, lapping up the goodies he was getting like some potentate,” she added. “He said to me, with a creepy little smile, ‘Isn't this great? Man, this is the life.’ I remember thinking ‘Yes, it is, but it’s not your life – it’s the president’s life.’”

“There was something so gross and tacky about his behaviour during that trip that the image never left me,” Ms Grisham concluded.

The Independent has reached out to Mr Graham for comment.