Stephanie Grisham: Trump Was ‘Riffing’ When He Suggested John Dingell Was in Hell

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham has defended President Donald Trump after widespread criticism of a comment he made at a rally on Wednesday. Trump suggested that the late Democratic Congressman John Dingell as ‘looking up’ from Hell.

“He was at a political rally, he has been under attack and under impeachment attack for the last few months, and then just under attack politically for the past two and half years,” Grisham told Good Morning America. 

“The President is a counter-puncher, it was a very, very supportive and wild crowd. He was just riffing on some of the things that had been happening the last few days.”

.@GayleKing asks @PressSec about President Trump's comments last night in Michigan disparaging late Congressman John Dingell. https://t.co/G8oKK3ByJY pic.twitter.com/ZAkgqSUPPZ

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) December 19, 2019

In another interview on CBS This Morning Grisham said that she hadn’t heard Trump make the remark about Dingell but that ‘a lot of riffing was going on.’

“I didn’t hear him say that,” Grisham said, as if hearing about it for the first time.

Dingell’s wife, Representative Debbie Dingell, expressed her upset at Trump’s remarks and said they had made her healing process more difficult. So far, two Republican congressmen have called on Trump to apologize.

You can watch Grisham’s remarks above, via Twitter.