President Donald Trump slammed former White House aide and “Apprentice” alum Omarosa Manigault Newman on Monday after she released audio clips that she claims were recorded during interactions with President Donald Trump and Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Here are the latest updates:
Update 9:55 p.m. EDT Aug. 13: According to the Associated Press, Trump said he received a phone call from Mark Burnett, the producer of "The Apprentice" assuring him that no tapes exist of him using the N-word, as former White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman claims.
Manigault Newman writes in her new memoir that she’d heard such tapes existed. She now says she listened to one after the book closed.
Update 10:25 a.m. EDT Aug. 13: Trump took to Twitter Monday morning to blame the media for his attacks on Manigault Newman, writing that "the Fake News Media will be working overtime to make even Wacky Omarosa look legitimate as possible."
Manigault Newman served as the director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison until January, when reports surfaced that she was "physically dragged" from the White House. Secret Service officials later denied Manigault Newman was physically removed from the premises.
She was one of Trump's most prominent African-American supporters. The president thanked her in February during an event for African-American History Month, saying that she was "very special."
"I want to thank my television star over here," Trump said at the Feb. 1 event, referencing Manigault Newman's time on his reality show competition, "The Apprentice."
Update 10 a.m. EDT Aug. 13: Trump slammed "Wacky Omarosa" Monday morning after the former White House aide released audio clips of calls she said were made with Trump and Kelly.
“Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time,” the president said Monday in a tweet. “She never made it, never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, I said Ok. People in the White House hated her. She was vicious, but not smart. I would rarely see her but heard really bad things.”
Update 7:28 a.m. EDT Aug. 13: "Apprentice" alum Omarosa Manigault Newman has released an audio clip that she says was taken during a phone call with President Donald Trump the day after she was fired from her White House job in December.
According to NBC News, the recording seems to indicate that Trump did not know White House Chief of Staff John Kelly had fired Newman the day before.
"Omarosa, what's going on? I just saw on the news that you're thinking about leaving. What happened?" a man, purportedly Trump, says in the clip.
He later adds: “Nobody even told me about it. You know they run a big operation, but I didn’t know it. I didn’t know that. [Expletive] it. I don’t love you leaving at all.”
>> Listen to the clip here (WARNING: Audio includes profanity.)
Original report: "Apprentice" alum Omarosa Manigault Newman claims that she taped the moment she was fired from her job as an adviser to President Donald Trump – and released the audio to NBC's "Meet the Press."
On Sunday, the news show aired the clips, which Newman said were taken in the White House Situation Room as Chief of Staff John Kelly fired her in December.
"It's come to my attention over the last few months that there's been some pretty, in my opinion, significant integrity issues," a man, purportedly Kelly, can be heard saying in the recording.
He later adds: "I think it's important to understand that if we make this a friendly departure ... you can look at your time here in the White House as a year of service to the nation, and then you can go on without any type of difficulty in the future relative to your reputation."
Newman told "Meet the Press" that she believed the latter was a threat.
"He goes on to say that 'things can get ugly for you,'" said Newman, whose book, "Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House," hits stores Tuesday. "The chief of staff of the United States, under the direction of the president of the United States, threatening me on damage to my reputation and things getting ugly for me – that's downright criminal."
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement Sunday night condemning Newman's actions.
"The very idea a staff member would sneak a recording device into the White House Situation Room shows a blatant disregard for our national security – and then to brag about it on national television further proves the lack of character and integrity of this disgruntled former White House employee," Sanders said.
CNN reported that electronic devices such as cellphones are not allowed in the Situation Room.
White House officials are exploring "legal options" to prevent Newman from sharing more audio, ABC News reported Sunday evening.
The Associated Press contributed to these reports
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