Spokeswoman: First lady will watch TV channel of her choice

WASHINGTON >> Melania Trump’s spokeswoman says the first lady will watch whatever she wants on TV.

Stephanie Grisham responded today to a New York Times report that President Donald Trump was unhappy that his wife’s television aboard Air Force One was tuned to CNN — and not Fox News Channel — during their recent trip to Europe.

The Times said Trump raged at his staff for breaking a rule that each trip begin tuned to Fox. Trump is an avid Fox viewer who regularly disparages CNN as “fake news.”

Grisham also tried to bat away questions about the broadcast of a brief audio recording of Trump and his longtime personal lawyer discussing plans to pay for a former Playboy model’s story of an alleged 2006 affair with Trump.

Trump has denied the affair.

A day after accompanying Mrs. Trump to a Tennessee children’s hospital that treats babies born with a dependency on drugs, also known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, Grisham suggested that reporters focus on that and other issues she deemed more important than the first lady’s television viewing habits or “some recording on the news.”

“Did you know that every 15 minutes a baby is born with NAS?” she said. “Maybe you’d like to talk about the 160,000 kids who skip school every day for fear of being bullied, or that 280,000 students are physically attacked in schools every month.”

Both are issues Mrs. Trump is working to highlight.

“Seems kind of silly to worry about what channel she watches on TV (any channel she wants btw) or if she heard some recording on the news,” Grisham said, using an abbreviation for “by the way.”