Stephanie Grisham, a White House press secretary and communications director during Donald Trump’s presidency, on Monday explained why she thinks the latest defendant in the Justice Department’s classified documents case won’t turn against the former president.
Carlos De Oliveira, a Mar-a-Lago property manager and former valet who made his first court appearance Monday, was accused of helping Trump aide Walt Nauta, who also has been indicted, move boxes containing secret files around Trump’s Florida estate. The superseding indictment also accuses De Oliveira of lying to FBI investigators when he told them in a voluntary interview that he knew nothing about the boxes.
Grisham said Trump likes to hire employees who feel “ingratiated” toward him and feel they owe him.
“I think he chooses and selects vulnerable people to surround him — and I’m putting myself in that group, by the way,” Grisham, an outspoken critic of the former president since departing the administration, told CNN’s Erin Burnett.
Grisham added that it would be challenging for someone like De Oliveira to abandon Trump, since he’s still employed by Trump and has his legal expenses covered by him.
“You get out into that world without the Trump cushion and it’s very scary and it’s not very friendly, I’ve got to tell you,” she said.
Grisham continued: “I think it’s a very basic necessity of survival that somebody like Carlos wouldn’t turn on Trump.”
De Oliveira’s arraignment has been scheduled for Aug. 10. Trump and Nauta have pleaded not guilty.