Omarosa Manigault Secretly Recorded Donald Trump and Played Tape for Others: Report
President Donald Trump‘s former aide and confidant Omarosa Manigault Newman allegedly secretly recorded conversations she had with the president in the West Wing — and she’s played the tapes for others, The Daily Beast reports.
An unnamed source told The Daily Beast that they had listened to least one of Manigault Newman’s recordings featuring Trump, and multiple sources familiar with the tapes told the outlet that it appears to be Trump’s voice on the recordings. The sources described the conversations they heard as inoffensive and commonplace.
The news of the “Omarosa tapes” comes as Manigault Newman prepares to release her “tell-all” book, Unhinged, on Aug. 14.
A spokesperson for Simon & Schuster, the book’s publisher, declined to tell the Daily Beast whether the recordings exist. “Without commenting on the specific contents of UNHINGED,” the spokesperson said, “we are confident that Omarosa Manigault-Newman can substantiate her highly anticipated account of life inside the Trump White House.”
Neither The White House nor Manigault Newman immediately responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
RELATED: Omarosa Manigault Is Releasing an ‘Explosive’ Tell-All Book About Donald Trump’s White House
Manigualt Newman, who previously starred on Trump’s reality TV show The Apprentice, left her role as communications director for the White House Office of Public Liaison in January 2017 — and it is unclear whether her departure was voluntary. At the time, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement saying that Manigualt Newman had resigned, but in February, White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said that she had been fired. Manigault Newman denies that claim.
Trump commented on the matter at the time, tweeting, “Thank you Omarosa for your service! I wish you continued success.”
Thank you Omarosa for your service! I wish you continued success.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017
Manigault Newman’s secret recordings may come as a surprise to Trump, who once called his former aide “a loyal friend!”
.@OMAROSA You were fantastic on television this weekend. Thank you so much – you are a loyal friend!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2015
After leaving the White House, the longtime Trump ally joined the reality show Celebrity Big Brother, where she revealed in February that she would never vote for Trump again “in a million years.”
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Manigault Newman’s alleged tapes follow a scandal that broke less than a month ago in which Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, released a secretly taped conversation he’d had with Trump. In the recording, the two men appear to be discussing a payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Trump has denied the affair.
