Penn Jillette says he knows Trump tapes exist, because 'I was in the room'

Maria Puente | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Omarosa vs. the Trump Administration Omarosa has revealed that she secretly recorded numerous people within the Donald Trump administration. The announcement fell during the same week of the schedule release of her book "Unhinged." Now, the White House is firing back.

Comedian/magician and former "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant Penn Jillette has just pulled a surprising rabbit out of his hat and inserted himself in the did-Donald-Trump-speak-slurs on-"The Apprentice"? controversy roiling Washington again.

Yes, he says, there are tapes from the reality series in which Trump, its host, is heard making racially or sexually inappropriate remarks. And he knows this because, he says, "I was in the room" at the time.

But, no, he's not going to say specifically what he heard Trump say and when, because he's afraid of misquoting Trump and that "might be unfair" to the man elected president of the United States in 2016.

"He would say racially insensitive things that made me uncomfortable," Jillette said in an interview published Tuesday on Vulture. "I don’t think he ever said anything in that room like 'African-Americans are inferior' or anything about rape or grabbing women, but of those two hours every other day in a room with him, every 10 minutes was fingernails on chalkboard."

If Trump hadn't become president, Jillette said, he'd be gabbing away about what he heard on the set of the reality TV series that helped make Trump a star. Jillette appeared on the show in Season 12 in 2012, and in Season 13's "All-Star" edition in 2013.

"But the stakes are now high, and I am an unreliable narrator," Jillette told Vulture. "I’m a storyteller. And storytellers are liars. So I can emotionally tell you things that happened racially, sexually, and that showed stupidity and lack of compassion when I was in the room with Donald Trump, and I guarantee you that I will get details wrong."

He said his experience on the show made it clear that Trump "would be a terrible president,” but he was perfect for a reality TV show.

"I said that publicly every chance I got – while also saying he’s a good reality show," Jillette said. "You want someone capricious and petty and narcissistic to be on your reality show. And boy, I hate to say this, but playing tapes of him doing that job might be unfair. I want those tapes to be used against him, but it might be unfair."

After all, he said, the context for the tapes was television, and "context is really tricky." Still, he added: "I have nothing good to say about Donald Trump as president."

Jillette is on vacation and could not return a call from USA TODAY, according to his agent, Glenn Schwartz.

Jillette's admission comes just as another former "Apprentice" star, three-times-fired Omarosa Manigault Newman, is promoting her new book, "Unhinged," with explosive allegations that she heard an "Apprentice" tape in which Trump uses the N-word.

More: Donald Trump calls former aide Omarosa a 'dog,' triggering outrage

More: Omarosa says she'll hand over secretly recorded White House tapes to special counsel Robert Mueller

More: Did Omarosa break the law by secretly taping her firing in White House Situation Room?

She says she was fired from her White House job last December because she tried to track down the tape. On Tuesday, Manigault Newman, who secretly recorded conversations from her months in the White House, released another tape in which she and two other Trump campaign officials are heard discussing what to do about the alleged slur if it was revealed.

So once again, the Washington political/media industrial complex is in hot pursuit of damaging TV outtakes that may or may not exist, while Trump and White House officials lob insults at critics, especially his one-time favorite, Manigault Newman.

In recent days on Twitter, Trump has called her a "dog," "wacky," a "lowlife," "deranged" and "vicious." White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders admitted to reporters Tuesday that she "can't guarantee" Trump has never used the N-word, but she called Manigault Newman's claims "salacious and ridiculous."

.@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. I don’t have that word in my vocabulary, and never have. She made it up. Look at her MANY recent quotes saying.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018

The existence of the alleged Trump tapes first surfaced right before the election; Jillette's name was not mentioned in the subsequent discussion. But another former "Apprentice" contestant, Tom Arnold, hinted at the time there are outtakes of Trump saying “every offensive, racist thing ever.”

Trump has consistently denied the tapes exist. "Apprentice" creator Mark Burnett also denied it in 2016, and on Tuesday, Trump tweeted that Burnett called him Monday night and again denied there were any such tapes. Earlier this month, Burnett told USA TODAY there are no tapes of Trump making racist or sexist comments during production on "The Apprentice."

Jillette is specifically asked by Vulture if Burnett has tapes and he replies, "Yeah."

Jillette, 63, is the taller and louder half of the comic magic duo Penn & Teller, who perform in Las Vegas and are now in the fifth season of CW's "Penn & Teller: Fool Us."