Former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham’s new book is the gift that keeps on giving — unless you’re Donald Trump and would rather your attempts to bribe heads of state remain on the down-low.
The latest revelation from her tell-all, I’ll Take Your Questions Now, focuses on a meeting Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019. This was a follow-up to that now-infamous chat which led to Trump’s first impeachment, as Democrats in Congress argued that transcripts of the first meeting between the two men proved the former president tried to bribe Zelensky, withholding approved funding in exchange for a “favor” that might have had something to do with investigating Hunter Biden’s dealings within the country. According to Grisham (via Raw Story), Trump joked about the ongoing investigation into that call while complaining about the lack of Diet Coke provided at the 2019 UN General Assembly.
“Why no Diet Coke for me?” Trump asked, according to the book. “Then he turned to President Zelensky. ‘It’s probably because everyone would call it a bribe,’ he said with annoyance. They briefly touched on the now-infamous phone call. Trump asked Zelensky, ‘Can you believe all the hype about this?'”
Now, Trump’s love of diet soda is well-documented — President Biden removed a button that Trump had installed on his Oval Office desk, which he pushed to alert an aide whenever he wanted a new beverage delivered. But, according to Grisham, the tasteless joke which stemmed from Trump’s aspartame craving, left Zelensky “visibly irritated.”
Having a fellow world leader complain about the lack of carbonated beverage options when you’re trying to build international relationships? Yeah, that would probably irritate us too.
(Via Raw Story)