White House 'can't guarantee' there are no recordings of Trump saying N-word
Donald Trump’s press secretary has said she “can’t guarantee” there are no recordings of the US president using the N-word.
It comes as former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman alleged there is a recording of Mr Trump using the racial slur.
“I can’t guarantee anything,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, told reporters when asked if such a recording exists.
She added: “I can tell you the president addressed this question directly. I can tell you that I’ve never heard it.”
When she was asked if she could say with certainty whether Mr Trump had never used the N-word, she said: “I haven’t been in every single room,” but stressed the president has addressed the question and denied ever using such language.
After Ms Manigault Newman conducted another round of interviews to promote her tell-all book, Mr Trump called her a “crazed, crying lowlife” and referred to her as “that dog.”
When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
The president, who has denied the existence of any such tape, wrote on Twitter: ”When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!”
On Monday, Mr Trump attacked Ms Manigault Newman’s claim she had heard a tape of him using the N-word, tweeting to say he had received a call from the producer of The Apprentice assuring him ”there are NO TAPES of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa.”
He went on to insist: “I don’t have that word in my vocabulary, and never have,” and claimed Ms Manigault Newman had called him “a true Champion of Civil Rights” until she was fired.
.@MarkBurnettTV called to say that there are NO TAPES of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa. I don’t have that word in my vocabulary, and never have. She made it up. Look at her MANY recent quotes saying....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
....such wonderful and powerful things about me - a true Champion of Civil Rights - until she got fired. Omarosa had Zero credibility with the Media (they didn’t want interviews) when she worked in the White House. Now that she says bad about me, they will talk to her. Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
In her book, Ms Manigault Newman writes that she’d heard such tapes of Mr Trump using such language existed. On Sunday, she said she had listened to one after the book closed.
Asked if the book can be backed up by email or recordings, Ms Manigault Newman told CBS every quote in the book “can be verified, corroborated and it’s well documented,” suggesting she may have more information to release.
Ms Manigault Newman also asserted on MSNBC that Mr Trump knew in advance about the release of Hillary Clinton’s emails by WikiLeaks, but did not provide any evidence.
In her interviews, Ms Manigault Newman has also revealed two audio recordings from her time at the White House, including her firing by General Kelly, which she says occurred in the high-security Situation Room, and a phone call with Mr Trump after she was fired.
She also alleges Trump allies tried to buy her silence after she left the White House, offering her $15,000 (£11,800) a month to accept a “senior position” on his 2020 re-election campaign along with a stringent nondisclosure agreement.
