President Trump went after former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman Tuesday, praising Chief of Staff John F. Kelly “for quickly firing that dog.”
When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
Late Monday night, Mr. Trump denied the existence of any tapes in which he used the N-word and said “The Apprentice” producer Mark Burnett called to confirm it. He said he was a “true Champion of Civil Rights.”
.@MarkBurnettTV called to say that there are NO TAPES of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa. I don’t have that word in my vocabulary, and never have. She made it up. Look at her MANY recent quotes saying….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
The president continued to argue that Ms. Manigault Newman changed her tune about him because she could not get any attention from the media until she accused him.
….such wonderful and powerful things about me - a true Champion of Civil Rights - until she got fired. Omarosa had Zero credibility with the Media (they didn’t want interviews) when she worked in the White House. Now that she says bad about me, they will talk to her. Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
Asked why the president doesn’t simply ignore Ms. Manigault Newman’s claims, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at Tuesday afternoon’s White House press briefing, “He always fights fire with fire.”
In her new book released Tuesday, “Unhinged: An Insiders Account of the Trump White House,” Ms. Manigault Newman alleged the president used the racial slur repeatedly.
Since finishing the book, she claims she heard a tape from “The Apprentice” when the president used the N-word about African-American producers on the show.
Ms. Manigault Newman also released secretly recorded conversations with Mr. Trump and Mr. Kelly, the latter she took in the ultra-sensitive Situation Room. In the president’s tape, it appears that Mr. Trump was left out of the decision to fire her.
On Tuesday in an interview on MSNBC, Ms. Manigault Newman pushed back against the president’s tweets.
“If he would say that publicly what else would he say about me privately. He has no respect for women, for African-Americans,” she said. “He is unfit to serve in this office as president.”
Ms. Manigault Newman said the president is attacking her in order to silence the claims she’s making.
“So what is he trying to hide? What is he afraid of,” she said. “I think he should be afraid of being exposed as the misogynist, the bigot, and the racist that he is.”
Ms. Manigault Newman refused to say if she has more tapes or if she plans on releasing any additional tapes.
Although, during her interview on the “Today Show,” the former White House aide said, “There’s multiple tapes. Let’s be clear about that.”
Ms. Manigault Newman also refused to comment on any potential meetings with special counsel Robert Mueller.
“I will say this. There’s a lot of corruption that went on in the campaign and in the White House, and I’m going to blow the whistle on all of it.”
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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