WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump escalated his messy clash with former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman on Tuesday, referring to the longtime colleague, who had been the top African-American in his White House, as “that dog!”
Trump tweeted a barrage of insults Tuesday morning as Manigault Newman continued promoting her White House tell-all and releasing secret audio recordings.
Her book paints a damning picture of Trump, including her claim that he used racial slurs on the set of his reality show “The Apprentice.”
“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,” Trump said.
“Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!” John Kelly is White House chief of staff.
While Trump trades in insults on a near daily basis, deeming Manigault Newman a “dog” was a stunning move in a row that touched on several sensitive issues in Trump’s White House, including a lack of racial diversity among senior officials, security concerns — Manigault Newman taped her firing in the White House Situation Room — and extraordinary measures such as non-disclosure agreements to keep ex-employees quiet.
Trump has also pushed back against Manigault Newman’s claim that she had heard an audiotape of him using the N-word.
He tweeted that he had received a call from the producer of “The Apprentice” assuring him “there are NO TAPES of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa.”
Trump insisted, “I don’t have that word in my vocabulary, and never have.” He said Manigault Newman had called him “a true Champion of Civil Rights” until she was fired.
Manigault Newman, the former White House liaison to black voters, writes in her new memoir that she’d heard such tapes existed.
She said Sunday that she had listened to one after the book closed.
On CBS Tuesday, Manigault Newman released another audio recording that she said showed campaign workers discussing an alleged recording of Trump using the racial slur.
The White House and the campaign did not immediately respond to questions.
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