Omarosa reveals she also taped post-firing conversation with President Trump

Cydney Henderson | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Omarosa claims Trump’s 'mental decline' in new book Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman claims in her new book, "Unhinged," that she saw evidence of President Trump’s "mental decline." Natasha Abellard has the story.

Just as Washington was wrapping its brain around the news that ex-White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman had secretly recorded her December 2017 firing by Chief of Staff John Kelly in the Situation Room, she revealed she also taped a conversation she says she had with Trump afterward.

Manigault Newman, whose tell-all book “Unhinged” is out Tuesday, shared the new tape during an interview on Monday’s episode of NBC’s “Today.” In it, Trump expresses surprise about her dismissal, saying, “nobody told me about it.”

While the latest recording appears to show Trump was unaware of the firing, Manigault Newman speculated that Trump may have instructed Kelly to fire her, but offered no evidence to back up her theory.

Manigault Newman hinted there was more to come, saying: “There’s a lot of very corrupt things happening in the White House and I am going to blow the whistle on a lot of them.”

“There’s a lot of very corrupt things that are happening in the White House, and I am going to blow the whistle on a lot of this.”



Watch @OMAROSA’s full interview with @savannahguthrie pic.twitter.com/9R2nnDXnIy — TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 13, 2018

The White House, which offered stinging criticism over the weekend, did not immediately respond to questions on the new recording.

However, later Monday morning, Trump fired off a pair of disparaging tweets about his best-known apprentice.

"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 heard 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!"

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

...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

He continued, "While I know it’s 'not presidential' to take on a lowlife like Omarosa, and while I would rather not be doing so, this is a modern day form of communication and I know the Fake News Media will be working overtime to make even Wacky Omarosa look legitimate as possible. Sorry!"

While I know it’s “not presidential” to take on a lowlife like Omarosa, and while I would rather not be doing so, this is a modern day form of communication and I know the Fake News Media will be working overtime to make even Wacky Omarosa look legitimate as possible. Sorry! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2018

“If I didn’t have these recordings, no one in America would believe me,” Manigault Newman said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," where she was promoting "Unhinged.” “I am so glad that I did because now we can put to bed all those false rumors,” she added.

“Meet the Press” aired brief parts of the taped conversation, which included Kelly speaking to Manigault Newman about her reputation and some "pretty serious integrity violations" against her.

“If we make this a friendly departure we can all ... look at your time here in the White House as a year of service to the nation without any difficulty in the future relative to your reputation,” Kelly said on the tape.

In response to the clip, Manigault Newman, 44, told Chuck Todd that Kelly was trying to threaten her into silence.

"The chief of staff ... under the direction of the president of the United States threatening me on damage to my reputation and things getting ugly for me. That is downright criminal," she said.

During the interview, Manigault Newman called President Trump a “con,” a "liar" and a “racist,” doubling down on her claim that the current administration does not care about African-Americans. Her comments come a day after Trump called "The Apprentice" alum a "low life."

"I was the only African-American at the table. ... People are making decisions about us, without us," she said. “When I left … I realized they can care less about African-Americans at the table.”

Manigault Newman — best known as the villain of Trump's “Apprentice” and “Celebrity Apprentice” television and often referred to by her first name, followed Trump from his reality television show to his presidential campaign, emerging as one of his most fiercely loyal supporters. She was rewarded with a top White House job when Trump won the White House.

Manigault Newman’s official title was assistant to the president and director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison. She made $179,700, the top salary allowed by law for White House aides.

The “Apprentice” alum was the most prominent African-American face of Trump's White House, working on outreach to historically black colleges and universities and racial disparities in the military justice system.

More: 5 new books you won't want to miss this week, including Omarosa's Trump tell-all

Manigault Newman acknowledged she was "complicit" while defending Trump in the past.

“Being used by Donald Trump for so long, I was like the frog in the hot water,” she said. “I was complicit with this White House deceiving this nation. They continue to deceive this nation by how mentally declined he is.”

During her "Meet the Press" interview, Todd also addressed allegations that President Trump said the N-word on tape.

In her book, Manigault Newman wrote that she heard people describe Trump using the racial slur, although she had not personally heard it. However, she told Todd on Sunday that she was able to hear the tape for herself after her book published. (During a Friday interview with NPR, she made it sound as though she'd written in the book that she'd heard the tape. She did not, according to a USA TODAY editor who read an advance copy.)

"I heard his voice as clear as you and I are sitting here," Manigault Newman told Todd.

The White House responded to Manigault Newman’s appearance on “Meet the Press,” referring to her as a “disgruntled former White House employee.”

In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “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.”.

For the White House chief of staff to conduct such a meeting – especially with an employee whose job is not related to national security – in the Situation Room rather than his office is unusual. However, if Kelly suspected that she was indeed recording conversations, he may have felt she would be less likely to do so there since staffers are usually required to hand over their phones before entering.

A number of people were quick to call Manigault Newman’s secret recordings a breach of national security and a possible violation of the law.

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer told Fox News Sunday that the audio clips are “a massive violation of every security protocol.” Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, suggested Manigault Newman violated the law and "should be prosecuted."

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

"I've never heard of a more serious breach of protocol," said Ned Price, who served as spokesman of the National Security Council in the Obama administration, told the Associated Press. "Not only is it not typical, something like this is unprecedented ... The Situation Room is the inner-most sanctum of a secure campus."

It is not clear if Manigault Newman will face any charges.

Contributing: Gregory Korte and Jayme Deerwester, USA TODAY; The Associated Press and