Former Trump campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson says she was only placating fired White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman by confirming President Trump had previously said the “N-word.”
“During the 2016 campaign, we heard rumors about an alleged tape from ‘The Apprentice.’ It’s clear now that those rumors were always being circulated by Omarosa and her alone,” Pierson said in a statement.
“In her secret tape recording of me, it was one of many times that I would placate Omarosa to move the discussion along because I was weary of her obsession over this alleged tape,” the statement continued.
Statement from @KatrinaPierson pic.twitter.com/lHIiAw3A9A
— Ed Henry (@edhenry) August 14, 2018
Manigault Newman released a conversation she recorded to CBS News on Tuesday which she says supports her claim that she discussed Trump’s alleged use of the racial slur with Pierson and Lynne Patton, though the quotes alone don’t specify what exactly the staffers are discussing.
[Trump: ‘Apprentice’ producer called to say there are no N-word tapes]
“I am trying to find at least what context it was used in to help us maybe try to figure out a way to spin it,” Pierson said in the new tape.
“I said, well, sir, can you think of anytime that this might have happened, and he said, ‘no,'” Patton said.
“Well, that is not true,” Manigault Newman responded on the tape.
“No, he said it. He is embarrassed,” Pierson added.
Before the recording’s release, Pierson denied the conference call took place. In tweets Monday night, Trump also denied using the racial slur.
On Tuesday, Pierson accused Manigault Newman of fabricating the story “by conflating numerous discussions.”
