Former Trump adviser releases another recording, threatens to say more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former presidential adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman released another audio recording Monday that she says features President Donald Trump, as she threatened to “blow the whistle” on White House corruption.

The recording, released on NBC’s “Today” show, is purportedly a phone conversation between Trump and Manigault Newman after she was fired from the White House. It appears to show Trump expressing surprise, saying “nobody even told me about it.”

Manigault Newman is drawing fire from Trump’s allies and national security experts for secret recordings she made at the White House, including her firing by the chief of staff John Kelly in the high-security Situation Room.

While the latest recording appears to show Trump was unaware of the firing, Manigault Newman said on “Today” that Trump may have instructed Kelly to do it, but she offered no evidence.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Monday: “I’m not going to get into the tick-tock of who knew what when, but the president makes the decisions.”

He added: “For her to go out and praise the president lavishly after she left her post and tell the truth about how much work he’s done for the African American community and who he is as a person, I guess that wasn’t paying the bills.”

Manigault Newman, whose book “Unhinged” is out this week, suggested 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.”

Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said on “Fox and Friends” Monday that Manigault Newman may have broken the law by recording private conversations at the White House.

When asked if she broke the law, Giuliani said: “She’s certainly violating national security regulations, which I think have the force of law.”

On Sunday, Manigault Newman told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that she surreptitiously recorded a number of conversations in the White House for her own protection. Parts of her conversation with Kelly were played on the air. Critics denounced the recordings as a serious breach of ethics and security.

We want to hear from you! Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169, email us at editors@gleanerjm.com or onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com.