Trump Campaign Seeks Millions from Omarosa: Report

Petr Svab
8/14/2018
Updated:
10/5/2018

The campaign for the re-election of President Donald Trump has filed for arbitration proceedings against former campaign aide and White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman, alleging that she broke a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) by denigrating the president in her recent book.

Manigault Newman, who was fired from a community-outreach job in the Trump administration in December, says she secretly recorded other Trump administration officials, and she even released a tape of chief of staff John Kelly firing her. That conversation, she said, took place in the ultra-secure White House Situation Room, where personal devices are forbidden.

An unidentified Trump campaign official told The Washington Examiner that Manigault Newman committed “egregious” violations of the agreement, and the campaign is seeking millions of dollars in compensation. The campaign may also claim “ill-gotten” profits from her book.

“Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. has filed an arbitration against Omarosa Manigault-Newman, with the American Arbitration Association in New York City, for breach of her 2016 confidentiality agreement with the Trump Campaign,” the official said, adding that the president “is well known for giving people opportunities to advance in their careers and lives over the decades, but wrong is wrong, and a direct violation of an agreement must be addressed and the violator must be held accountable.”

The agreement prohibits Manigault Newman from divulging proprietary information about the president, his companies, or his family and to never “disparage” the Trump family “during the term of your service and at all times thereafter,” according to a copy obtained by the newspaper.

While Manigault Newman said she didn’t sign an NDA with the administration, the campaign claims that her NDA with the campaign is still in effect.

In her book, Manigault Newman has accused Trump of racism, alleging he used a racial slur during the production of the reality television show “The Apprentice,” on which she worked with Trump for years.

Trump and multiple insiders, however, have denied that claim and others in the book.

“She claims to have heard from someone who heard from me that I heard Trump use the N-word,” political consultant Frank Luntz said in an Aug. 10 tweet. “Not only is this flat-out false (I’ve never heard such a thing), but Omarosa didn’t even make an effort to call or email me to verify.”

Manigault Newman claimed there’s a tape of Trump using the slur and released a recording where she’s discussing the tape with Katrina Pierson, spokeswoman for the Trump 2016 campaign.

Republican political consultant Katrina Pierson arrives at Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 14, 2016. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Republican political consultant Katrina Pierson arrives at Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 14, 2016. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Pierson said in a statement to Fox News that she was indeed looking into rumors about the tape and that “it’s clear now that those rumors were always being circulated by Omarosa and her alone.”

“Omarosa fabricated the story by conflating numerous discussions,” Pierson said.

Petr Svab is a reporter covering New York. Previously, he covered national topics including politics, economy, education, and law enforcement.
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