Stephanie Grisham is shedding some light on former President Donald Trump's unscheduled November 2019 visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Grisham, a former White House press secretary, writes about the event in her new book I'll Take Your Questions Now, CNN reports. At the time, the White House explained that Trump made an unannounced visit to Walter Reed so he could undergo "portions of his routine annual physical exam," as he would be "very busy" in 2020. This caused a stir, as staffers were not told he was coming ahead of time and presidents don't typically spread out their physical exams over several months.
In I'll Take Your Questions Now, Grisham heavily implies that Trump was at the hospital for a colonoscopy. She never uses the term, but describes it as "a very common procedure" during which a "patient is put under," CNN reports. She also says former President George W. Bush, who had multiple colonoscopies during his two terms, went through a similar procedure while in office. Grisham writes that Trump attempted to keep his visit under the radar because he didn't want former Vice President Mike Pence to be in charge while he was under and "did not want to be the butt of a joke" on late night talk shows.
Trump told CNN in a statement that it is "too bad that sleaze bag publishers continue to report this very boring garbage. We and the MAGA movement are totally used to it. And someday in the not too distant future we will have our voice back and be treated fairly by the press."