Sacked White House worker releases Trump tape
Former White House staffer and TV celebrity Omarosa Manigault Newman has released a recording of a private conversation with President Donald Trump after she was sacked.
NBC’s Today programme played the brief recording, in which Mr Trump claims to have had no knowledge that she was dismissed by chief of staff John Kelly, and expresses regret at the news.
The recording is the latest volley from the digruntled Ms Manigault Newman, 44, once an ardent Trump ally, and represents another breach of trust.
It also appears to show a president who has little knowledge of what is happening inside his own White House – or who is willing to lie to avoid confrontation.
“Omarosa? Omarosa what’s going on? I just saw on the news that you’re thinking about leaving? What happened?” he said, apparently unaware she had already been sacked.
“Nobody even told me about it,” Mr Trump says. “You know they run a big operation but I didn’t know it.
“I didn’t know that. Goddamn it. I don’t love you leaving at all.”
Mr Trump has already called Ms Manigault Newman a lowlife after she released a recording of her dismissal by Mr Kelly, apparently recorded in the White House Situation Room.
Mr Trump came to office vowing to hire “only the best people” but has struggled to put a lid on leaks, backbiting and scandal in the White House. Ms Manigault Newman, whose book Unhinged is out this week, suggested there was more to come.
“There’s a lot of very corrupt things happening in the White House and I am going to blow the whistle on a lot of them,” she said.
Mr Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said on Fox and
Friends yesterday that Ms Manigault Newman may have broken the law by recording private conversations at the White House.
When asked about the legality of the recordings, Mr Giuliani said: “She’s certainly violating national security regulations, which I think have the force of law.”