Former White House Press Secretary to former President Trump, Stephanie Grisham told delegates at the Democratic National Convention On Tuesday, Trump was angry that cameras weren't filming him as he visited an intensive care unit. What he didn't mention: The scene occurred after a mass shooting in El Paso.
On Wednesday, Olivia Troye, a former White House national security official under the Trump administration, filled in the blanks.
“He’s talking about the day of the El Paso shooting.” Troye said on “CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta.”
Grisham, who said she would vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, told delegates Tuesday night that Trump mocked her supporters and referred to them as “basement dwellers.”
“I saw him when the cameras were off,” Grisham said. “Once, during a hospital visit, when people were dying in the ICU, he was furious because the cameras weren’t watching him. He has no empathy, no morals, no fidelity to the truth.”
Troye, who is from El Paso, said his aunt was inside the Walmart that day.
“That was very personal for me,” Troye told Acosta.
In 2019, a white gunman opened fire on Latino shoppers at Walmart, killing 23 people and injuring 22 others.
While Trump was in the ICU, Troye was briefing then-Vice President Mike Pence on what was happening at Walmart and telling people in the White House that his aunt was inside.
Troye, one of many Former Republicans Support Harris and is scheduled to speak at the convention this week, said Trump's behavior in the midst of a national tragedy weighed heavily on him, particularly when it was so personal.
“As an American, think about me … not a former Trump official, think about just being a human being in that situation and seeing the president of the United States, hearing them talk that way,” Troye said. “These are the people in your hometown community, and that could have been my aunt in the ICU. She was very lucky that day, that someone pulled her aside, she saw the shooter.
“That's very real to me and the staff,” Troye added.
