Tearful Omarosa fears US 'won't be OK' under Trump

Adam Gabbatt in New York
Updated

  • Manigault-Newman: ‘I was haunted by tweets every single day’

  • Celebrity Big Brother star: ‘It’s not going to be OK. It’s really bad’

Manigault-Newman worked at the White House office of public liaison until she left in December.
Omarosa Manigault-Newman worked at the White House office of public liaison until she left in December. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman has said she was “haunted” by Donald Trump’s Twitter feed and that the US will “not be OK” under the president.

Manigault-Newman, who rose to fame as a contestant on Trump’s reality TV show The Apprentice and then went on to work in his administration, made the comments during a conversation with Ross Matthews, a former correspondent on the Tonight Show. The pair are currently appearing on Celebrity Big Brother.

“I was haunted by tweets every single day,” Manigault-Newman said of her time in the White House. “Like, what is he going to tweet next?”

Matthews told Manigault-Newman that “as a voter” he “never got” why she decided to work for Trump in the White House.

“I felt like it was like a call to duty. I felt like I was serving my country not serving him,” Manigault-Newman said. “It was always about the country.”

Later, Matthews asked: “Should we be worried?”

Manigault-Newman, who was in tears, shook her head.

“It’s going to not be OK. It’s not,” she said. “It’s so bad.”

Manigault-Newman did not offer any further details, but said during her time in government she had attempted to curb Trump’s behaviour.

Asked by Matthews whether anyone around Trump every asked the president “What are you doing?”, Manigault-Newman seemed to hint that Trump’s daughter and son-in-law had thwarted her efforts to tame Trump.

“I tried to be that person and then all of the people around him attacked me. It was like: ‘Keep her away from … don’t give her access. Don’t let her talk to him. And it’s like Ivanka’s there, Jared’s there …,” Manigault-Newman said.

Manigault-Newman was a contestant on the first season of the Apprentice. She served as director of communications for the White House office of public liaison until leaving, in disputed circumstances, in December.

Manigault-Newman said she had resigned because of “concerns” she had about the administration. The Wall Street Journal reported she was “physically dragged and escorted off the [White House] campus”.