By Prarthana Mitra
Once staunch ally and former aide to United States President Donald Trump- Omarosa Manigault Newman recently went public with a recording alleging that Trump had no idea that she was fired from her position at the White House.
Trump took to Twitter to malign the former contestant on The Apprentice (a reality show he ran), who later landed an $180,000-a-year job at the presidents behest. Her termination which took place in the White House Situation Room and was ratified by chief of staff John Kelly, apparently happened without the presidents knowledge or approval.
In a private conversation she had with Trump, which was aired on NBC’s Today programme on Sunday, he was heard saying, Omarosa? Omarosa, whats going on? I just saw on the news that youre thinking about leaving? What happened? after she had already been fired. Nobody even told me about it, he said.
The expose comes on the eve of Omarosas book launch, a tell-all saga called Unhinged.
Miserably out of depth
Soon after she went public with the phone recording, Trump began branding her as lowlife, “vicious” and “not very smart.” He hurled vitriolic comments on her credibility and credentials over several tweets during his return from a vacation in New Jersey. Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time. She never made it, never will, read one of them.
She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, I said Ok. People in the White House hated her, read another tweet. He also called her nasty to people & would constantly miss meetings & work. When Gen. Kelly came on board he told me she was a loser & nothing but problems. I told him to try working it out, if possible, because she only said GREAT things about me — until she got fired! Additionally, in yet another attack on American media, he tweeted, I know the Fake News Media will be working overtime to make even Wacky Omarosa look legitimate as possible. Sorry!
More alarming details have emerged from the Twitter war, regarding the non-disclosure agreement she (and all of Trumps recruits) supposedly signed that prohibits staff members from divulging White House operations even after termination. The American Civil Liberties Union believes that such hush deals prohibiting government staff from revealing all information they learn of at work are unconstitutional and unenforceable.
The spat has also propelled rumours of serious chaos in the White House, and confirms doubts regarding Trumps claim to hire “only the best people.” Furthermore, Newman has also stated her willingness to cooperate with Special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections on Trumps behalf. Claiming that she has more recordings like this one, Omaosas revelation ought to put the Trump administration on its toes.
In other news, Trump allegedly joked about playing matchmaker for Prime Minister Narendra Modi after learning that the latter was estranged from his wife, according to a new report in Politico. The article also called him out for his lack of telephone etiquette, mispronunciations, and awkward meetings that we have come to expect from Trump’s recent summits with foreign leaders.
Prarthana Mitra is a staff writer at Qrius