White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders attacked Omarosa Manigault-Newman’s “integrity” as the former Trump aide continued making damaging allegations about the president, but said she couldn’t guarantee that there isn’t a tape of Trump using a racial slur.
“I can’t guarantee anything,” Sanders said at the press briefing Tuesday afternoon when asked if she could assure the American people that they’d never hear a recording of Trump saying the N-word, which Omarosa claims exists. But she noted that Trump had explicitly denied using the term on Twitter, and added, “I can certainly say I’ve never heard him use that term or anything similar.”
Omarosa has unleashed explosive allegations about the president surrounding the publication of her tell-all memoir “Unhinged.” Omarosa claims old “Apprentice” tapes exist of Trump using the N-word and revealed that she secretly recorded Chief of Staff John Kelly firing her in the Situation Room this past January, as well as making other recordings of conversations with Trump and aides. Trump lashed out at Omarosa on Twitter, calling her a “crazed, crying lowlife” and referring to her as a “dog.” Trump’s campaign is filing an arbitration action against her as well, alleging a breach of a secrecy agreement.
Read More: Omarosa’s Tapes Show an Ongoing Problem With White House Security
“I think it’s really sad what she’s doing,” Sanders said of Omarosa Tuesday afternoon, but wouldn’t confirm or deny whether Omarosa signed a non-disclosure agreement for her time at the White House.
As for whether Trump’s attacks on Omarosa are racially charged, Sanders argued that “this has absolutely has nothing to do with race and everything to do with the president calling out someone’s lack of integrity.” She said Trump is “an equal opportunity person” in how he criticizes others and “fights fire with fire.”
Omarosa first entered Trump’s orbit in 2004 when she was a contestant on his reality television show “The Apprentice” She returned years later on “The Celebrity Apprentice” and “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice,” and she became a notorious reality TV villain during her time on the show. “Omarosa always promises and delivers high drama,” Trump tweeted in 2013. “She won’t backstab-she’ll come at you from the front.”
Now that Trump finds himself at the receiving end of Omarosa’s blade, he doesn’t seem to think she’s so “honest.”
Although the president continues to tweet about the controversy, Sanders blamed the media for covering and giving a “large platform” to Omarosa, who she refused to name throughout the briefing and simply referred to as “an individual” in her responses. “I think,” Sanders said, “it would be better off for all of us to walk away.”
Get our Politics Newsletter. The headlines out of Washington never seem to slow. Subscribe to The D.C. Brief to make sense of what matters most.
