President Trump on Tuesday escalated his war of words with former adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman, referring to the person who was once the highest-ranking African-American in the West Wing as a “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!” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to White House chief of staff John Kelly.
The string of tweets from Trump came as Manigault Newman continues on a media tour to promote her book “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House,” which impugns his leadership and accuses him of saying the N-word on the set of “The Apprentice.” She also released a series of secretly recorded tapes of Trump and Kelly.
Trump and Manigault Newman have engaged in a verbal conflict since late last week, when excerpts of her book first appeared in media reports.
{mosads}But his decision to call her a “dog” has poured fuel on the fire and highlighted serious issues surrounding her termination, including the lack of racial diversity in the White House and the president’s use of nondisclosure agreements to secure the silence of public employees.
Trump late Monday disputed Manigault Newman’s claim that she heard a recording of him saying racial slurs on “The Apprentice” set.
“@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,” Trump said, referring to the show’s producer. “I don’t have that word in my vocabulary, and never have. She made it up.”
Trump claimed Omarosa said “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!” he added.
Just hours later, Manigault Newman released another recording that appears to show campaign aides discussing an alleged tape on which Trump is heard using the N-word. She said the tape backs up the claim in her book that such a recording does exist.
“If you see it in quotes, it can be verified, corroborated and it’s well-documented,” Manigault Newman said of her book during a Tuesday morning interview with CBS News.
One of the aides who appears to speak on the tape, campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson, denied the call ever took place during an appearance on Fox News on Monday night.
Another Trump associate, Lynne Patton, also denied the call ever took place in a statement on Monday night on Twitter and called Manigault Newman’s book a “work of fiction.” Patton is now a senior official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Manigault Newman’s media tour has raised a slew of new questions, such as the strength of security procedures at the White House, where she claims to have recorded her firing by Kelly inside the highly secured Situation Room. National security experts have questioned whether Manigault Newman broke the law by making the recordings.
She has also provoked fear among White House officials and Trump associates with her claim she has more tapes to share. During an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Manigault Newman said she would provide “anything they want” to special counsel Robert Mueller “if his office calls again.”
Current and former White House officials have described Manigault Newman as a disruptive and unprofessional employee. But her exit shines a light on the lack of African-Americans at the highest levels of Trump’s White House staff.
With her departure, no staff member with the highest rank — assistant to the president — is African-American.
Manigault Newman, who was tasked with public outreach to black groups, said Trump’s scorched-earth response to her claims has followed his “pattern with African-Americans.”
The president has also drawn fire for his response to racially charged violence at a white supremacist rally last year in Charlottesville, Va., and for his criticism of African-American NFL players who kneel in protest during the national anthem.
The conflict has also drawn scrutiny of Trump’s practice of using nondisclosure agreements, which he used during his business career and has brought to the White House.
Manigault Newman accused Trump of offering her $15,000 per month and a position on his 2020 reelection campaign in exchange for her silence.
Trump tweeted Monday that “Wacky Omarosa already has a fully signed Non-Disclosure Agreement!” But it’s not clear if she signed one upon entering the White House, like other aides did.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday on ABC that “we have confidentiality agreements in the West Wing.”
“Everybody signs an NDA. It sounds like she didn’t want to sign it and didn’t want to go back to the campaign because she had a book on her mind,” Conway added.
Brooke Seipel contributed to this story, which was updated at 9:38 a.m.