Former White House aide says she recorded sacking to ‘protect herself’

Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman told a TV news anchor on Sunday she had recorded chief of staff John Kelly firing her inside the situation room to “protect herself”.

“If I didn’t have these recordings, no one in America would believe me,” Manigault Newman told NBC during an interview to promote her book Unhinged, an explosive tell-all about her days in the White House before she was fired in December.

The show went on to play the conversation, in which Kelly asks Manigault Newman to leave over “serious integrity” issues, says her exit is non-negotiable, and that President Donald Trump needs to be in the loop.

“If we make this a friendly departure we can all ... look at your time here in the White House as a year of service to the nation without any difficulty in the future relative to your reputation,” Kelly can be heard saying on the tape.

The White House has not reacted yet to the revelation, as experts and former White House officials discussed the implications of the tape, with some suggesting it was a massive security breach.

“In normal times, all communications devices are supposed to be left/deposited OUTSIDE the Situation Room for security,” Alyssa Ayres, an Obama administration official, tweeted.

And even Republicans appeared shocked. “Who in their right mind thinks it’s appropriate to secretly record the White House chief of staff in the Situation Room?” Ronna McDaniel, head of the Republican committee chair, tweeted.

First Published: Aug 13, 2018 00:54 IST