Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former White House aide, has released fresh audio recordings that she claims show she was offered “hush money” by Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. Manigault Newman has already made several serious and provocative accusations about Trump and the White House in her book Unhinged, including that there are recordings of Trump using the N-word. The White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said earlier this week she was unable to guarantee that any such recording did not exist. During an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday, Manigault Newman played excerpts of an apparent phone conversation between her and Lara Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, which Manigault Newman claims was recorded shortly after her dismissal from the White House. In the call, Lara Trump, who has a senior role in Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, offers Manigault Newman a job that would pay $180,000 a year in exchange for occasionally attending meetings in New York and doing “speaking engagements”. Lara Trump said in the phone conversation that “it sounds a little, like, obviously, that there are some things you’ve got in the back pocket to pull out”. However, she noted that if Mangault Newman joined the campaign, everything she would say about Trump would have to be “positive”. Manigault Newman, a former Apprentice contestant who was once the most prominent African American in the Trump administration, told MSNBC she saw the offer as “an attempt to buy my silence, censor me and pay me off – $15,000 a month”. Asked if she saw it as “hush money,” Manigault Newman responded: “Absolutely.” In the course of the conversation, Lara Trump noted “the only thing we have to consider where we’re talking about salary as far as the campaign is concerned is that, as you know, everything is public”. Manigault Newman said that Lara Trump was clear during their phone conversation that the impetus for the phone call came from Donald Trump. In a statement, Lara Trump criticized Manigault Newman, calling the tapes “a fraud”, although she did not directly contradict anything on the recording. She said that the Trump family “had no idea about basis of her dismissal” when she was fired from White House, and said “we still wanted her on our team because we cared so much about her personally. That’s why I reached out to offer her a position with the 2020 Trump campaign before we knew anything about the gross violations of ethics and integrity during her White House tenure.” Lara Trump said she “formed a sisterhood bond that is unlike any I have experienced in my life” with Manigault Newman. She went on: “[I am] absolutely shocked and saddened by her betrayal and violation on a deeply personal level.” Manigault Newman refused to rule out releasing further recordings. “Every single time the Trump people challenge me, I bring the receipts,” she said of the criticism she has received for making the recordings, and making them public. She alleged she had further evidence of Trump corruption and said there are “things I’m going to write about and things to save share when the time is right”.<doc-sep>Omarosa Manigault-Newman, the former "Apprentice" star who was later fired from her senior role at the White House, continued her media blitz Thursday promoting a new tell-all memoir about her time inside the White House titled "Unhinged." Following days of attacks from President Donald Trump and his inner-circle on her credibility, Manigault-Newman offered a firm message on live TV: "Donald Trump has met his match." Manigault-Newman, who was formerly the director of communications at the White House Office of Public Liaison, aide, released to NBC News an audio recording of a conversation she had with Trump campaign official Lara Trump, who is married to Donald Trump's son Eric. In the tape, Lara Trump can be heard offering Manigault-Newman a $15,000-a-month job in the wake of her dismissal from the White House. According to Manigault-Newman, turned down the position, which came with a condition: signing a non-disclosure agreement. The tape corroborates earlier claims from Manigault-Newman, which were dismissed by those in Trump's orbit. In its exclusive report, NBC News elaborated: The tape — which, according to Manigault Newman was made on Dec. 16, 2017, just days after she had left the White House — appears to corroborate claims she made in her new book about receiving an offer from the president's re-election campaign. Manigault Newman wrote in her book that the job offer came with the condition of signing a nondisclosure agreement; she said she did not accept it. On the newly unearthed recording, Lara Trump can be heard telling Manigault-Newman, "It sounds a little like — obviously — that there are some things you've got in the back pocket to pull out." "Clearly, if you come on board the campaign — like, we can't have — we got to —" Lara Trump continues, before Manigault-Newman interjects: "Oh, God. No." "Everything, everybody positive, right?" Trump later added. In an interview with MSNBC's Craig Melvin following the broadcast premiere of the tapes, the former "Apprentice" contestant claimed that the recording was proof of "an attempt" by the Trump machine "to buy my silence, to censor me and to pay me off." When asked by Melvin if she considered the offer to be "hush money," Manigault-Newman responded without hesitation, saying "absolutely." "I am here to blow the whistle," the former "Apprentice" star declared. Manigault-Newman further claimed that, according to Lara Trump, the "hush money" offer was made at the president's behest. "She was very specific that it was, as we call him DJT — that it was Donald Trump that wanted to make this offer to me," she said. In another part of the recording, Lara Trump is heard explaining to Manigault-Newman that "the only thing that we have to consider, where we're talking salary as far as the campaign is concerned, is that, as you know, everything is public." "All the money that we raise and that pays salaries is directly from donors – small-dollar donors for the most part. So – I know you – you were making $179 at the White House. And I think we can work something out where we keep you right along those lines," Lara Trump continued. "Specifically, let me see, I haven't even added up the numbers. But we were talking about – like 15K a month. Let me see what that adds up to. Times 12. Yeah, so that's $180,000. Does that sound like a fair deal for you?" In another excerpt, Lara Trump seems to indicate that Manigault-Newman's position had few strings attached. The former White House staffer might be asked to do speaking engagements, which she would "be awesome at." "It doesn't really matter where you are," Lara Trump also said. Manigault-Newman referred to the lack of contingencies as very "cavalier" on Lara Trump's part. "I could basically decide what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it . . . as long as I signed on the dotted line and accepted this $15,000 a month," she said. Although Manigault-Newman's claims would have to be throughly investigated by authorities, her allegation of a "hush money" payment does call into question if any federal campaign finance laws were possibly violated. Melvin asked Manigault-Newman if she planned to release more tapes, which she said was within the realm of possibility. "I am not going anywhere. I am not going to be bullied. I am not intimidated," she responded. "And I'm going to go toe to toe with him, everything he throws at me. Believe me, my tapes are better than theirs." The pair also spoke about the possible threat of arrest. In Vanity Fair, MSNBC contributor Gabriel Sherman reported that the president had asked his Attorney General to arrest her: In recent days, Trump has called Manigault Newman “crazed,” a “lowlife,” and a “dog” on Twitter. His campaign filed an arbitration suit against her seeking “millions.” And Trump told advisers that he wants Attorney General Jeff Sessions to have Manigault Newman arrested, according to one Republican briefed on the conversations. (It’s unclear what law Trump believes she broke.) Another Republican recounted how over the weekend Trump derailed a midterm-election strategy session to rant about Manigault Newman’s betrayal "What Mr. Nixon – I mean Mr. Trump – does will be brought to light," Manigault-Newman responded. "Every action that he takes against me jeopardizes him and his presidency." The former "Apprentice" star, who is herself an ordained Baptist minister, then turned the conversation to the divine. As evidence of her unresolved strength, Manigault-Newman offered that she has a whole community of people of faith standing beside her and praying for her amid the fire and the fury being aimed at her from President Trump's machine. "No matter who is in the Oval Office, Donald Trump needs to remember that God is on the throne," she said. Thursday's release was the fourth recording that Managault-Newman shared in recent days in the lead up to her book's Tuesday publication, in which she blasted the president as a racist and in mental decline.<doc-sep>After she was fired, Manigault Newman wrote, she received a call from Trump campaign adviser Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, offering her a job and the monthly contract in exchange for her silence. A nondisclosure agreement attached to the offer, which was reviewed by The Post, said Manigault Newman could not make any comments about President Trump, Vice President Pence or their families or any comments that could damage the president. It said she would do “diversity outreach,” among other things, for the campaign. “The NDA attached to the email was as harsh and restrictive as any I’d seen in all my years of television,” Manigault Newman writes in the book. ... Manigault Newman said the call from Trump was followed by a call from Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and Ivanka Trump, his daughter, who said she “really loves” her and would do anything for her. “Call us anytime,” Kushner says on the call, according to the book. Then, Lara Trump called and reiterated how much the president and the family loved Manigault Newman, offering her the job and wanting to make sure “everything is positive.” “If you come on board, we can’t have you mention that stuff,” she added, referring to interviews Manigault Newman gave immediately after her firing.<doc-sep>She was kept in the Situation Room for more than an hour, according to her telling in the book, with her husband waiting outside. She fights with Passantino, who tells her she is being fired for abusing the government car service. She tries to explain why she used the car each time — for official government business, in her telling — to no avail. “It’s not a fight that is winnable,” says Uttam Dhillon, another lawyer.<doc-sep>
Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman Omarosa Manigault NewmanJudge denies Omarosa Manigault Newman request to depose Trump, John Kelly in lawsuit Tanden seeks to defuse GOP tensions over tweets Juan Williams: The GOP's problem with women of color MORE claims in her new book that she was offered a $15,000-a-month hush money contract from President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE’s campaign to keep quiet about her time in the administration. Manigault Newman claims in her upcoming book, “Unhinged: An Insider Account of the Trump White House,” that she turned down the offer, according to an excerpt obtained by The Washington Post on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT The former reality television star reportedly writes that after she was fired by chief of staff John Kelly John Francis KellyMORE in December, she received a call from Lara Trump, who is married to President Trump's son Eric Trump Eric TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Michael Cohen predicts Trump will turn on family after revelation of criminal probe Florida GOP passes bill that would clear way for Trump casino license MORE. Manigault Newman writes that Lara Trump offered her a job and the monthly $15,000 stipend in exchange for her silence about the inner workings of the White House, the Post reported. “The NDA attached to the email was as harsh and restrictive as any I’d seen in all my years of television,” Manigault Newman writes in the book. Manigault Newman wrote that the proposal for a nondisclosure agreement would have barred her from speaking about Trump, his family, Vice President Pence or the Pence family. The former aide could not say anything that would potentially damage the president, and her job on the campaign would involve “diversity outreach,” the Post reported from the book’s excerpts. The Trump campaign did not respond to the Post’s request for comment on Friday. Manigault Newman, who served as the director of communications for the White House's Office of Public Liaison, said Kelly fired her because she was close to getting audio of Trump using a racial slur. She alleges in her book that Trump repeatedly used a racial slur during tapings of his reality show “The Apprentice,” which Manigault Newman appeared on. While she never heard him use the slur, excerpts of her book reportedly claim that audio tapes exist corroborating her account. The White House tore into the former aide on Friday, saying her book is “riddled with lies and false accusations." Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Manigault Newman is only a “disgruntled former White House employee” who is "trying to profit off these false attacks.”