It takes more than vague legal threats to stop Omarosa. Photo: NBC NewsWire/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

As rumors swirled about the White House gossip contained within Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, President Trump’s legal team tried to block the book’s release by threatening to sue the publisher. This foray into book banning only managed to drum up more interest in the tome, and move up its release by a few days.

Nine months later, the administration is facing the release of another book full of wild allegations about life in the Trump White House. But rather than trying to prevent Omarosa Manigault Newman’s Unhinged from hitting bookshelves on Tuesday, Trump allies are making vague claims about how the former director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison might have broken the law by secretly recording conversations in the White House. They may be able to convince more Americans that the former Apprentice villain has a “lack of character and integrity,” as White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Sunday. But it seems unlikely that she violated any laws, and pressing the point raises new questions about security in Trump’s White House.

Sunday on Meet the Press, Manigault Newman released a tape publicly for the first time, playing a recording of White House chief of staff John Kelly firing her. Since the conversation took place in the Situation Room, many conservatives declared it was not just illegal, but a threat to national security.

Secretly recording conversations in the Situation Room isn't just wildly inappropriate, it's a threat to our national security. If she broke federal law, she should be prosecuted. — Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) August 12, 2018

Omarosa recording a conversation in the Situation Room would not only mean she broke the law, but that she deserved to be fired. — Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 12, 2018

Gonna be amazing when the first actual Trump White House official to go to jail is Omarosa — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 12, 2018

White House officials picked up on this idea, issuing a vague legal warning on Sunday evening. ABC News reported:

Omarosa Manigault Newman’s former White House colleagues are looking into legal options to stop her from releasing more tapes and to punish her for secretly recording her conversation with Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, White House officials tell ABC News.

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer told ABC News that Manigault Newman had “top secret” security clearance at a minimum, which would have involved agreeing to security protocols, so she might have violated federal law.

“It’s an unbelievable violation of protocol and the law,” Spicer said. “You can lose your security clearance for bringing your device into SCIF — to bring it in is a violation but to willfully record it — you’re entering a whole other realm.”

But of course, the conversation was about Manigault Newman losing her job entirely. And NBC News reported in February that internal White House documents showed she had “no clearance at all.”

Spicer didn’t elaborate on this new realm of legal consequences. Washington, D.C., has “one-party consent” on recordings, so merely flicking on her recorder without telling Kelly isn’t illegal. (As Law & Crime notes, she could be in trouble if she secretly recorded conversations at Mar-a-Lago, as Florida has two-party consent.) Legal experts and former national security officials said that while the security implications are concerning, the recording probably isn’t illegal.

Ned Price, who was a National Security Council spokesman for the Obama administration, told the Washington Post that the Situation Room “is the inner sanctum within an already-secure facility where the most sensitive of the most sensitive information is discussed.” He added, “It’s where negotiations with Iran were hashed out. It’s where contingency plans for nuclear launches have been developed. The fact that she was recording a conversation in there really raises alarm bells in the minds of people who have worked in that room.”

But while cell phones and recording devices are barred from the room, Price said that in his experience there was no screening process. “It’s a system based on honor and integrity, and there’s a sign outside that says, ‘Place your phones here,’ ” he said.

National security lawyer Bradley Moss said that as long as classified information wasn’t discussed, merely recording a conversation in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility isn’t a crime.

Was any law broken by Omarosa's apparent recording inside Situation Room? @BradMossEsq: "In and of itself, there is no criminal provision implicated. If there isn't national defense information or classified involved, merely recording...in a SCIF is merely a security violation" — Tim Mak (@timkmak) August 12, 2018

That would be the fastest Supreme Court smack down against a President.



Maybe ever. https://t.co/BCwZDYP7zp — Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) August 13, 2018

Tommy Vietor, another former Obama NSC spokesman, agreed, saying that despite the Situation Room’s history and mystique, it’s “just a bunch of conference rooms.”

I can't get that worked up about Omarosa taping Gen Kelly in the Situation Room. Yes, it's against the rules. Yes, it's a SCIF. But ultimately the sitroom is just a bunch of conference rooms. He didn't read the PDB aloud and then fire her it was an unclassified discussion. — Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) August 12, 2018

There’s two distinct issues here in my mind. One is a party that’s lost its collective mind and wants to imprison opponents. The other is the rules in a SCIF. No one frisks you on the way into the sit room. It’s sloppy, against the rules and bad opsec but it’s on her. — Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) August 12, 2018

After initially suggesting that Manigault Newman might have broken the law, Lawfare executive editor Susan Hennessey said that’s probably not the case since didn’t have security clearance.

I actually didn't realize Omarosa didn't hold any kind of security clearance. That makes it hard to understand why they were in Situation Room but also means it is far less than "likely" that she violated federal law as opposed to just breaking dozens of rules and regulations. — Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) August 12, 2018

TPM’s Josh Marshall also questioned why Kelly opted to fire Manigault Newman in the Situation Room, since it’s not just a place to have a private chat, but “a large conference room complex specifically designed for handling national security briefings, remote conferences and crisis management.”

Manigault Newman asked the same question, wondering on Meet the Press, “Why not have the meeting in the chief of staff’s office? Why put me in the Situation Room and lock the door?” She suggested the location was part of an effort by Kelly to intimidate her, but Politico reported that he chose the location precisely to prevent her from recording their conversation:

Going into the conversation, Kelly had anticipated a fight, according to two senior administration officials. And rumors had also begun to spread through the White House that Manigault Newman was recording conversations, according to a former senior administration official. Those people said that’s why Kelly took Manigault Newman into the Situation Room, where officials are asked to surrender their electronic devices, which are put under lock and key, before entering.

Apparently Kelly didn’t take sufficient steps to make sure a person being fired for, as he puts it, “some pretty serious integrity violations,” actually followed the rules. And there’s the larger question of why Trump thought it was a good idea to hire a notorious TV villain to work in the White House.

But at this point, it doesn’t look like there’s much Trump officials can do to stop Manigault Newman from dishing on her time in the administration. ABC News reported that Trump administration sources are afraid of what she might release next — which may be why they’re floating the dubious possibility of legal consequences.

“People now understand that she has a lot,” a former White House official said. “It’s stopping people from punching back.”

Another former official added, “If you pissed off Omarosa, buckle up — it’s going to be a tough couple of weeks.”