White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham accused outgoing Obama staffers of leaving nasty notes for their incoming Trump administration counterparts on inauguration day in 2017:
WH Press Sec Stephanie Grisham claims Obama aides left 'you will fail" notes in offices for Trump aides: “We came into the WH, I’ll tell you something. Every office was filled with Obama books and we had notes left behind that said ‘you will fail,’ ‘you aren’t going to make it,’”
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) November 19, 2019
Grisham made the comment during a radio interview this morning:
Stephanie Grisham tells me that she related this story about the Obama-Trump transition this morning during an interview with a local radio host. The White House is hosting a "media row" today, larely to promote the USMCA trade deal. https://t.co/NdxBBdC76M
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) November 19, 2019
The Daily Mail’s David Martosko then confirmed that he, too, heard this story but never followed up on it:
I should note that this is *not* the first time I've heard this. A WH aide told me about it two months after Trump's inauguration, but I couldn't confirm. NBow, apparently, it's on the record. https://t.co/NdxBBdC76M
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) November 19, 2019
“Entirely my fault for never tracking it down at the time”:
I heard this in 2017 but felt uncomfortable reporting it because of the nature of a single source and that person's motives. Today several vintage 2017 officials are confirming it on background to me. Entirely my fault for never tracking it down at the time.
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) November 19, 2019
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And now “vintage 2017 West Wing officials” are confirming it to Martosko:
Multiple vintage 2017 West Wing officials now telling me they found nastygrams in their offices on Day One. https://t.co/ACaLFz0Wdq
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) November 19, 2019
But former Obama officials are accusing Grisham of lying:
This is another bald faced lie. https://t.co/E1U9KtdL77
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) November 19, 2019
I was there. This is a complete and utter lie. Quite the opposite — we left them briefing books to try to help with the transition as much as possible. https://t.co/WxMNIiwBuV
— Daniel Jacobson (@Dan_F_Jacobson) November 19, 2019
Multiple senior Obama White House officials are denying this allegation with two telling me that nice notes were left for their successors https://t.co/8RouH0egWT
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) November 19, 2019
It's appalling that she thinks our notes would have been that lame. https://t.co/EZWFZYBgDA
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) November 19, 2019
And blue-check journos are questioning why we’re just hearing about it now, like if Trump administration officials tweeted out photos of nasty post-it notes that they would have believed them then anyway:
How is this the first we're hearing about these notes then, almost three years into the Trump presidency? https://t.co/MuvTTWPhLA
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 19, 2019
Interesting. Over the past 2.5 years I’ve heard no end of complaints from Trump officials about their Obama predecessors but never has this remarkable detail been mentioned. Would love to see a copy of these “you will fail” notes. https://t.co/BdvIHXaYaq
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) November 19, 2019
Obviously the first thing they'd do with these notes is never take pictures of them and never talk about them for nearly three years. https://t.co/kz0cUJfWHC
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) November 19, 2019
How is this first it’s been told of? https://t.co/zsmidROEU0
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 19, 2019
If true, you have to wonder why no one has ever mentioned it before… https://t.co/nkVsTxNMHx
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) November 19, 2019
And this stunner was somehow left OUT of the many books already published about life inside @WhiteHouse ? https://t.co/ZVxXHYlshF
— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) November 19, 2019
Took them three years to come up with this lie. But of course, they have pictures, right? https://t.co/1UOt1Y0ZFU
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) November 19, 2019