Omarosa says she was ‘complicit’ in deceit
Former White House aide says she helped Trump deceive the nation
WASHINGTON – Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman said Sunday that she was “complicit” in White House efforts to deceive the nation and used by President Donald Trump.
“I was like the frog in the hot water,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “You don’t know that you’re in that situation until it just keeps bubbling and bubbling.”
Manigault Newman, who first met Trump when she appeared on “The Apprentice” more than a decade ago, was a high-profile defender of him throughout the presidential campaign and during her tenure in the White House.
The former reality TV star is coming out with a tell-all book, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House,” in which she calls the president “racist” and says he has suffered “mental decline.”
“I was complicit with this White House deceiving this nation – they continue to deceive this nation by how mentally declined he is, how difficult it is for him to process complex information, how he is not engaged in some of the most important decisions that impact our country,” she said. “I was complicit, and for that, I regret.”
Trump called Manigault Newman a “lowlife” Saturday.
In the White House, Manigault Newman served as director of communication for the office of public liaison until Chief of Staff John Kelly fired her in December. She recorded the conversation and provided the audio to “Meet the Press.”
In it, Kelly told Manigault Newman it was time for her to leave because of “significant integrity issues” related to “use of government vehicles and some other issues,” which he didn’t detail.
“I think it’s important to understand that if we make this a friendly departure, we can all be, you know, you could look at your time here in the White House as a year of service to the nation, and you can go on without any type of difficulty in the future, relative to your reputation,” he said.
Manigault Newman said she took that as a threat. She declined an offer to work on Trump’s re-election campaign and did not sign a confidentiality agreement.