Omarosa releases audio of Trump campaign job offer

WASHINGTON — Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman on Thursday released an audio recording to back up her claim that President Donald Trump’s campaign offered her a high-paying job to stay quiet about her tenure inside the administration.

She played the recording on MSNBC in which the president’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump can be heard offering Manigault Newman a job, a day after a news report suggested the fired aide might go public with damaging information about the president.

In a snippet of audio, Lara Trump, who is working on the president’s reelection bid, offers Manigault Newman a $180,000 annual salary, matching what she was making as an aide to the president. Lara Trump also expresses concern about what Manigault Newman might say, referencing a New York Times report suggesting the former reality television star would eventually air her dirty laundry.

“She made it very clear that if I joined this campaign that I would have to be quiet,” Manigault Newman said Thursday. “I saw this as an attempt to buy my silence, to censor me and to pay me off, $15,000 per month by the campaign.”

In the recording, Lara Trump indicated that Manigault Newman’s only responsibility would be to occasionally attend events and make speeches.

In a statement released shortly after Manigault Newman’s appearance on MSNBC, Lara Trump called the recording “a fraud” and, while not explicitly denying that the campaign’s job offer was contingent on a confidentiality agreement, portrayed the outreach after Manigault Newman’s firing as a matter of compassion for a friend.

Lara Trump added that she has been “shocked and saddened by her betrayal and violation on a deeply personal level. I hope it’s all worth it for you, Omarosa, because some things you just can’t put a price on.”