Omarosa Manigault Newman’s Tale of the Tapes

Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, while doing publicity for her tell-all book on her time at the Trump White House, has been talking about and sharing tapes she made of President Trump and others, including one capturing what she says is his reaction to her firing by Chief of Staff John Kelly.

NBC News:

The tape, which was played exclusively Monday on “Today” and sparked a harsh attack from Trump on Manigault Newman just hours later, appears to show the president having no idea that she had been dismissed by his chief of staff, John Kelly.

“Omarosa? Omarosa what’s going on? I just saw on the news that you’re thinking about leaving? What happened?” Trump is heard saying on the tape, which Manigault Newman said was made one day after her termination in December 2017 when Trump called her.

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

“Nobody even told me about it,” Trump replies.

Manigault Newman then says, “Wow,” before Trump reiterates his shock.

“You know they run a big operation, but I didn’t know it,” Trump is heard saying on the tape. “I didn’t know that. Goddamn it. I don’t love you leaving at all.”

NBC News does not know what was said before or after that exchange.

This comes after the release of audio recording of the actual firing, which may have been recorded in the situation room of the White House:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlIAFk68SxA&w=560&h=315]

Somewhat lost in the chatter was the fact the Kelly audio seemed to strongly hint at ethical and integrity issues related to “use of government vehicles and some other issues,” and later a vague “money issues” that have not yet been further explained. To note, before she was a reality TV star Omarosa had been in the White House before, having worked in the office of then-Vice President Al Gore, and should be aware of protocol for government service.

The Kelly recording comes off as professional and by the book dismissal of an employee, and could even be described as giving Omarosa an easy alternative in lieu of what was apparently serious misconduct. The Trump recordings, and any that might still come, will no doubt garner more attention. The President responded on Twitter to her media appearances on Twitter:

This latest headache for President Trump will probably be short-lived. Unless Omarosa has something really juicy from the president on tape the usefulness of the story will quickly wane. Traditionally on a media blitz you lead off with your strongest hit, and Omarosa went with her own firing that, frankly, did nothing to make her appear in a better light. Her recording activities may even be actionable by the government, depending. But it is a headache of the president’s own making, as yet another of the rogues gallery of initial aides and staffers from the Trump campaign who became short timers in the West Wing makes the media rounds. Added to the Cohen tapes, a pattern is starting to form of people recording President Trump with him unawares that begs the question who else might be doing the same.

It falls on President Trump as the one who insisted on bringing Omarosa into the administration, so he deserves every bit of the mess it makes.