A third audio recording released Thursday by Omarosa Manigault Newman appears to verify her previous claim that she was offered a $15,000-a-month contract with President Trump’s re-election campaign after being fired from the White House for “serious” ethical violations.
Manigault Newman provided the recording to MSNBC on the condition that only certain portions of the recording be played for the public. Trump’s daughter-in-law and campaign adviser Lara Trump can be heard in the tape describing a position for Manigault Newman on the 2020 campaign that would allow her to continue living in Washington and “occasionally go do speaking engagements.”
At the outset of their conversation, Trump appeared to address reports that Manigault Newman might have damning information about the president or his aides in her “back pocket.
“It sounds a little like, obviously, that there are some things you’ve got in the back pocket to pull out. Clearly, if you come on board the campaign … everything, everybody positive, right?” Trump says, according to the audio.
Manigault Newman claimed in an interview with MSNBC that Trump’s line about being positive meant “that if I joined the campaign, I would have to be quiet. I wouldn’t be allowed to talk to reporters, I wouldn’t be allowed to say anything bad about Donald Trump.”
“I saw this as an attempt to buy my silence, to keep me quiet and to pay me off,” she said.
The president’s re-election campaign has hired other several officials who previously assisted the president during the 2016 election or held senior roles in the White House. None of them have mentioned contracts that preclude them from speaking ill of the president or of his administration.
Following the tape’s release Thursday, Lara Trump issued a statement decrying Manigault Newman’s practice of recording “private conversations” and defending the campaign’s initial decision to offer her a position following her exit from the West Wing.
“When Omarosa was fired by the White House Chief of Staff in December of 2017, my entire family was concerned for her because we had no idea about the basis of her dismissal. We still wanted her on our team because we cared so much about her personally,” Trump said.
Trump continued, “The discussions about a position with the campaign took place in numerous phone calls over the course of several weeks. Woman to woman, I shared a connection with Omarosa as a friend and a campaign sister, and I am absolutely shocked and saddened by her betrayal and violation on a deeply personal level.”
The latest tape — the third in a series of recordings Manigault Newman has released to drive attention to her new book Unhinged – also includes a discussion about the salary and job responsibilities tied to her potential role on the 2020 campaign.
“All the money that we raise and that pays salaries is directly from donors, small-dollar donors for the most part,” Trump can be heard explaining. “I know you were making $179,000 at the White House and I think we can work something out where we keep you right along those lines. I haven’t even added up the numbers, but we were talking about, like $15,000 a month … times 12. Yeah, so that’s $180,000.”
Trump goes on to describe the flexibility Manigault Newman would enjoy if she accepted the position.
“Specifically, I really feel like your position would require you to be able to be flexible in terms of where you are. Sometimes, you know, come to New York for occasional meetings, but I would love if you could … occasionally go do speaking engagements and that sort of thing for us,” she can be heard saying. “It doesn’t really matter where you are. If you’re comfortable staying in D.C., then … we’re more than happy to have you.”
Manigault Newman said Trump was “very cavalier” about the offer and what it would entail, while claiming it was made very clear “that it was [President Trump] who wanted her to make this offer to me.”
In a previous recording released by the former White House aide, the president can be heard acting surprised as Manigault Newman relayed how she was fired by his chief of staff John Kelly.
“I don’t love you leaving at all,” Trump said.
