On Monday morning, Omarosa Manigault-Newman released a secret recording of a conversation with President Trump she says took place the day after she was fired from her role as assistant to the president last December.

Assuming he wasn’t pretending to be out of the loop, the tape indicates Trump — who forged a reputation for ruthlessly firing people during his career as a reality television star — had no idea what was taking place in his own White House.

“Omarosa, what’s going on? I just saw on the news that you’re thinking about leaving — what happened?” Trump can be heard saying, seemingly unaware his Apprentice co-star had already been fired from her nebulous White House job.

“General Kelly came to me and said that you guys wanted me to leave,” Omarosa replied.

“No. Nobody even told me about it,” Trump said. “You know, they run a big operation, but I didn’t know it. I didn’t know that. Goddamn it! I don’t love you leaving at all.”

The Today Show published audio of Omarosa’s conversation with Trump a day after Meet the Press played her secret recording of being fired by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

“The staff and everyone on the staff works for me, not the president,” Kelly told her.

During a Fox & Friends interview later Monday morning, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley downplayed the significance of Omarosa’s tape of her conversation with Trump.


“It is the President of the United States who runs this country,” Gidley said. “Listen, the president makes the decisions in this White House. I’m not going to get into the ticktock of who knew what and when.”

On Sunday, the White House and Republican Party responded to Omarosa’s recording of her conversation with Kelly by smearing her character.

Omarosa will clearly say anything to make a buck. It’s obvious that no one should believe a word she says. #OmarosaUnhinged — GOP (@GOP) August 12, 2018

“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,” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.


Sanders’ attempt to pin blame on Omarosa for her alleged character failures stands in contrast to what Trump said during his campaign, when he promised he would only “hire the best people.”

Fox News reported on Monday morning that the White House is exploring legal options against Omarosa.

UPDATE: (8/13, 9:30 a.m.) — Just after this post went live, Trump took to Twitter to smear Omarosa as “vicious” and “not smart.”

Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time. 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…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2018

More than 20 minutes later, Trump posted another tweet indicating he only allowed Omarosa to continue working in the White House because she “said GREAT things about me.”

…really bad things. 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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2018

But Trump’s previous tweets about Omarosa had all been to praise her, including calling her “a loyal friend” and thanking her for her service in the White House.

.@OMAROSA You were fantastic on television this weekend. Thank you so much – you are a loyal friend! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2015