President Trump calls Omarosa a ‘dog’ and ‘lowlife’
“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 tweeted.
The president’s tweet came after he denied claims of racism made late Monday by Manigault Newman, who has written in her new book, “Unhinged,” that a tape exists of Trump’s using the N-word from his days on “The Apprentice.”
Manigault Newman also released yet another recording Tuesday morning that she says records a conference call among several Trump campaign aides in which she has said the group discussed how they would deal with the potential fallout of the release of any N-word tape.
Describing a clip she provided to CBS, Manigault Newman said on CBS “This Morning” that the call contradicted denials recently issued by former Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson and former campaign aide Lynne Patton, who in their most recent statements have denied that any call on the subject ever happened.
In the audio, Pierson can be heard saying she wanted more info on how the word might have been used so they could “maybe try to figure a way to spin it.”
Patton then recalled how she personally asked the president about the existence of the audio and said Trump denied it, though Patton added that Trump still asked, “Why don’t you just go ahead and put it to bed?”
Soon after in the conversation, Pierson can be heard saying, “He said it [the N-word]. No, he said it. He’s embarrassed.”
But no officials on the call, including Manigault Newman, say they have personally heard the audio of the alleged tape.
Trump has spent much of the past two days attacking the former “Apprentice” star after Manigault Newman leaked a recording of her firing by Chief of Staff John Kelly on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. Trump said Monday he spoke to “Apprentice” producer Mark Burnett and said no tapes exist of his using “that word.”
“I don’t have that word in my vocabulary and never have. She made it up,” Trump tweeted.
There was some confusion over whether Manigault Newman had actually heard him use the word on tape or whether someone made the claim to her. She attempted to clear up that discrepancy — in her book she says she didn’t hear it herself — when she said she heard him use the N-word after the book had gone to press.
After calling her a “low-life” a day earlier, he referred to Manigault Newman as “deranged” in Monday’s tweets.
Manigault Newman released audio of her conversation with Kelly Sunday and then followed that up by releasing a conversation with Trump himself on Monday’s “Today” show. She played just a brief clip — not independently verified by NBC — in which the president seemed surprised by her exit and said he was not responsible.
It’s unclear whether Manigault Newman recorded any other conversations during her time at the White House when she was the most senior African-American in the West Wing.
Trump has been accused of racist behavior many times over the past two years since he took office. He has been accused of racial insensitivity in everything from his criticism of NFL players’ protests to LeBron James’ intelligence and his statement that there were “very fine people on both sides” at the Charlottesville riots in August 2017.
Two days ago, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., told ABC News’ “This Week” that the president’s words on racism “ring hollow.”
“He has not gone far enough,” Cummings said. “I think it’s a low bar for the president of the United States to simply say he’s against racism. He’s got to do better than that.”
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway appeared on the same show Sunday and said she wouldn’t be working for Trump if he were racist.
“I have never a single time heard him use a racial slur about anyone,” Conway said. “I also never heard Omarosa complain that he had done that, and so the only thing that’s changed is that she’s now selling books.”