The past week has been a roller coaster for President Donald Trump and Omarosa Manigault.
Fighting Back
The president fired back at Manigault on Tuesday, August 14. According to Trump, her book breaches a 2016 non-disclosure agreement she signed.
“Donald J. Trump for President, Inc has filed an arbitration against Omarosa Manigault Newman, with the American Arbitration Association in New York City, for break of her 2016 confidentiality agreement with the Trump Campaign,” a Trump campaign official told CNN in a statement.
The drama began with the former White House staffer, 44, claiming in her new memoir, Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House, that the commander in chief, 72, was recorded using the N-word repeatedly on the set of The Apprentice. “I would look like the biggest imbecile alive for supporting a man who used that word,” she wrote, adding that she believes Trump is “a racist, a bigot and a misogynist.” (White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that the “book is riddled with lies and false accusations.”)
Here’s everything we know about the feud sparked by Manigault’s tell-all.
John Kelly Tape
Manigault released a secret recording during an appearance on Meet the Press on Sunday, August 12, of White House chief of staff John Kelly firing her in December 2017. Kelly, 68, tells Manigault in the clip that he wants to “make this a friendly departure” to ensure that she can “go on without any type of difficulty in the future relative to your reputation.” She told NBC News host Chuck Todd that she perceived Kelly’s comments as “a threat” and “downright criminal.” She further alleged that Trump “has no idea what’s happening in the White House.”
Trump Tape
The reality star released a second secret recording on the Today show on Monday, August 13, this time of a conversation she had with Trump after her firing. He said in the tape, “Nobody even told me about it. … Goddamnit. I don’t love you leaving at all.” During a heated interview with Savannah Guthrie, Manigault said she “absolutely” thinks the real estate mogul lies often. “I thought that he would take his oath of office seriously, that he would be committed to advancing this country,” she added.
Trump Responds
The president fired back on Twitter immediately after Manigault’s Today interview. “Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time. She never made it, never will,” he tweeted on Monday. “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 really bad things.” He went on to call Manigault a “lowlife” and a “loser,” in addition to saying he does not “have [the N-word] in my vocabulary, and never have.”
Another Rant
Trump continued to slam the Celebrity Big Brother alum on Tuesday, August 14. “When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out,” he tweeted. “Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!”
Tanning Beds and Diet Coke
Manigault also claimed in her memoir that the president uses a tanning bed every day and he consumes “at least” eight cans of Diet Coke daily. “He just pushes a button in a wooden box on his desk. He can summon anything with that button,” she wrote. “Whenever I went in to brief him, he’d push the button and get us Diet Cokes.”
Unhinged is out now.
