White House communications official Omarosa Manigault shared a recording of a confrontation she had Monday with veteran reporter April Ryan, according to a new report.
Manigault reportedly shared the recording with several journalists after Ryan told the Washington Post Monday that Manigault “physically intimidated” her.
Ryan, a White House reporter for American Urban Radio Networks, had also said that Manigault told her the White House has “dossiers” of potentially embarrassing information on select journalists.
But in the new follow-up report, Manigault said the recording of the confrontation shows Ryan was the hostile party.
“She came in [to the White House press-staff area] hot,” Manigault, who grew famous as a villain on NBC’s “The Apprentice,” told the Post. “She came in with an attitude. For her to characterize me as the bully — I’m so glad we have this tape … because it’s ‘liar, liar, pants on fire.'”
The Post didn’t publish the recording, but it cited a Fox News correspondent who said he heard it and that the exchange between Manigault and Omarosa amounted mostly to a back-and-forth of terse words.
Manigault said the confrontation was recorded by a White House colleague.
“She wants to spin it like it’s a catfight, but she edited that tape,” Ryan said of the recording. “You don’t hear her screaming. This is about her smearing me.”
Ryan said she was unaware the exchange was recorded, though the Post notes it’s within the law in Washington, D.C., to record a conversation so long as one party to it has consented.
The White House on Tuesday denied that it is keeping any “dossiers” on journalists.
“That is absolutely not true. There are no dossiers,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.
