Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman allegedly secretly recorded President Trump’s Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly as he was firing her from her administration position last December. Newman told NBC’s 'Meet the Press' she also has personally heard audio President Trump using the n-word and other racial slurs. These claims seem unverifiable for now, but if the recording released today is confirmed to be Gen. John Kelly’s voice, the one-time Trump ally may end up in jail for violating the law and placing national security at risk.
'Meet the Press' host Chuck Todd questioned why she recorded the conversation and Newman defended her actions, saying, “If I did not have this recording, people would still believe the false, incredible story that I was running around the White House.”
Rumors swirled that the former White House aide was dragged from the White House premises by Secret Service after she had a complete meltdown after being fired.
The network played audio of what appears to be Gen. Kelly’s voice. The man is heard saying, “I think it’s important to understand that if we make this a friendly departure, we can all be, you know, we can look at your time here in the White House as a year of service to the nation. And then you can go on without any type of difficulty in the future relative to your reputation.”
The audio recording can be heard below. Newman says she took his words as a “threat” and wanted the world to know the truth.
EXCLUSIVE: @OMAROSA tells @chucktodd that John Kelly firing was a "threat." pic.twitter.com/OvRXx8tj6Y
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 12, 2018
While Washington, DC requires one-party consent in order to record a conversation, the White House has different rules regarding due to national security issues. If the firing and recorded conversation happened in the situation room, it is more likely than not that Omarosa broke the law. This has left many conservatives noting the irony that Omarosa, now a Trump opponent, could be the first former Trump official to go to jail.
Gonna be amazing when the first actual Trump White House official to go to jail is Omarosa
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 12, 2018
The White House has not responded to the tape.