Andrew Harnik/AP
- Trump reportedly exploded at Melania after she wore a controversial jacket.
- "What the hell were you thinking?" Trump yelled at Melania and her then-aide Stephanie Grisham.
- The scene is detailed in a forthcoming book by Melania's ex-advisor, Stephanie Grisham.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Then-President Donald Trump reportedly exploded at his wife Melania Trump after she wore an infamous army-green jacket with the message "I really don't care, do u?" scrawled on the back, according to a new book.
The former president confronted Melania when she returned to the White House following a visit with migrants at the Texas-Mexico border, where she wore the controversial $39 Zara jacket that prompted speculation it could have been a message to her husband, to Trump critics or even a comment about the migrants' plight.
Trump asked for the former first lady to come to the Oval Office, along with her then-advisor, Stephanie Grisham. He blew up at the pair, yelling "What the hell were you thinking?"
That's according to a forthcoming book titled "I'll Take Your Questions Now," by Grisham, a former top advisor in the Trump's White House, who served as Melania's chief of staff and communications director and as Trump's press secretary.
The Washington Post and the New York Times obtained early copies of the 352-page book, which reports plenty of new allegations about the former president.
It remains unclear why Melania purchased the jacket and decided to wear it at the border, Grisham writes. She thought it was just a jacket, per Grisham, yet Trump had come up with a plan to combat the fallout. The jacket was a message to the "fake news" media, Trump tweeted at the time, which Melania later repeated in a TV interview.
Grisham served first as Melania's communications director and then as White House press secretary from July 2019 to April 2020, a time during which she never held a press briefing.
After being replaced as White House press secretary by Kayleigh McEnany, Grisham returned to the first lady's office but resigned in the wake of the Capitol insurrection on January 6. Her tell-all memoir is set for release on October 5.
Spokespeople for Trump and Melania have rebutted claims Grisham has made about them since her departure.
Trump's spokeswoman Liz Harrington called the book "another pitiful attempt to cash in on the President's strength and sell lies about the Trump family" and denounced Grisham as a "disgruntled" employee.
"It is an attempt to redeem herself after a poor performance as press secretary, failed personal relationships, and unprofessional behavior in the White House," Melania's office previously said in a statement about an excerpt of the book published by Politico. "Through mistruth and betrayal, she seeks to gain relevance and money at the expense of Mrs. Trump."