Stephanie Grisham: Melania Trump announces her spokesperson will be new White House press secretary and director of communications

Ms Grisham will speak on behalf of Melania Trump, and her husband

Melania Trump’s spokesperson – Stephanie Grisham – is to become the next White House press secretary and director of communications, the first lady has revealed.

In a message on Twitter, Ms Trump said Ms Grisham, who had been with the president’s campaign team since 2015, would become press secretary and communications director. Reports said she will also continue to act as spokesperson for the first lady, a role that has no recent precedent.

“I am pleased to announce @StephGrisham45 will be the next @PressSec & Comms Director,” she wrote.

“She has been with us since 2015 – @potus & I can think of no better person to serve the Administration & our country. Excited to have Stephanie working for both sides of the @WhiteHouse. #BeBest.”

Earlier this month, the president revealed Sarah Sanders would be stepping down at the end of June, having served was the main White House spokesperson for more than two years. During that period, Ms Sanders – presumably at the direction of Mr Trump – greatly cut back the number of briefings and fiercely defended the president’s actions at every turn.

“We’ve been through a lot together. She’s tough and she’s good,” the president said as he brought Ms Sanders before reporters at event in the East Room of the White House. “She’s a warrior.”

He also weighed in on some potential replacements that had been mentioned, including, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who liked to be referred to by his nickname “The Mooch”.

“I know a lot of people that want it and they’re a lot of great people and sometimes you have so many that it makes it more difficult,” he said.

“Well, I like Anthony and he’s been very nice and all, but I think he should stay where he is right now. But Anthony really is a good guy, Stephanie is terrific. We have a lot of great people, we have a lot of good people to choose from.”

Other people reportedly being considered for the job, which requires somebody to defend the president’s actions in front of a group of people Mr Trump has referred to as “the enemy of the people”, were deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley, former state department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, and outgoing treasury department spokesman Tony Sayeg.

On Tuesday, Ms Sanders said on Twitter Ms Grisham “will be an incredible asset to the president and the country”.

“I’m sad to leave the WH, but so happy to leave our team in such great hands,” she said. “Stephanie will do a phenomenal job. Proud to have another mom and a great friend in this role.”

CNN pointed out Ms Grisham had been with Mr Trump and the first lady longer than anyone currently in the White House, with the exception of Dan Scavino, both of whom started on the Trump campaign in 2015. Prior to that, Ms Grisham worked as a spokeswoman and communications operative, mostly in Republican politics, in her home state of Arizona.

In 2012, she briefly worked on Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

Matt Gertz, of Media Matters for America, a non-profit, progressive media watchdog based in Washington DC, said Ms Grisham was likely to be “as bad as Ms Sanders or she will have a remarkably short tenure in the position”. “Sanders’ dishonesty and antagonism towards the press may be personal character flaws, but under the Trump administration, they are also all-but-official job requirements for the post,” he said.