Trump lying, says former aide

OMAROSA Manigault Newman – the once-loyal aide to President Donald Trump who has written a tellall book with explosive allegations about her former boss – believes Trump was lying when he claimed in a December phone call that he knew nothing about her dismissal by White House chief of staff John Kelly.

In a combative appearance on NBC’s Today show, she shared an audio recording of the phone conversation she says she had with Trump the day after she was fired.

She also denounced the White House’s handling of her firing, claiming the two-hour Situation Room meeting in which she was let go amounts to “false imprisonment”.

“President Trump probably instructed General Kelly to do it so that he could keep his hands clean when he spoke to me. I’m wondering, is he sincere?”

She added: “Is General Kelly running this country or is the president running this country?”

The Washington Post had previously reported on Manigault New- man’s account of the conversation with Trump the day after her firing. On the tape aired yesterday, Trump is heard expressing surprise that Manigault Newman was fired.

“Omarosa, what’s going on?” Trump asks. “I just saw on the news that you’re thinking about leaving. What happened?”

Manigault Newman responds that Kelly told her she’d been dismissed. “No. Nobody even told me about it,” Trump replies. “Goddamnit. I don’t love you leaving at all.”

The White House did not immediately respond to the new recording or Manigault Newman’s statements.

The audio’s release comes a day after Manigault Newman shared a separate recording of what she says is the conversation in which Kelly informed her she was being fired.

On NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, she said she made the recording in the Situation Room.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders commented: “If true, it shows a blatant disregard for our national security.” – The Washington Post