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Trump Was So Upset Over Omarosa's "Betrayal" That He Reportedly Wants Her Arrested

by Seth Millstein

According to a Vanity Fair report, Omarosa Manigault Newman's book Unhinged has angered President Trump so much, he's told associates that he wants her arrested. Manigault Newman, the former White House aide and contestant on The Apprentice, has been on an anti-Trump tour lately in promotion of the tell-all, and has been releasing secret recordings that she made of Trump and his staff while working in the White House. It's unclear what laws Trump believes she has broken, but he reportedly wants her hauled in regardless.

Vanity Fair did not report that Trump actually directed his Attorney General to arrest the former reality TV star, only that he's told others that he wants Sessions to do so.

Omarosa, who spent years as one of Trump's most loyal allies, turned squarely against her former boss after being fired from the White House in 2017. Her new book Unhinged is full of salacious, unflattering allegations against the president, and to promote it, she's been releasing recordings of conversations that she secretly made while working in the White House. Those conversations feature Manigault Newman, high-ranking members of the Trump staff, members of the Trump family and Trump himself. She was able to make one of her recordings in the Situation Room, leading many to cast doubt on whether the Trump White House's security protocol is adequate.

Manigault Newman has made one claim in particular that's received substantial attention: She says that she heard a recording of Trump saying the N-word during his time as host of The Apprentice. Such a tape has been rumored to exist for years, but the lack of any evidence to support those rumors caused them to generally die down — until now.

Omarosa writes in Unhinged that she received confirmation that the recording exists from a second-hand source. In her subsequent interviews promoting the book, however, she says that since her book went to press, somebody has played the alleged tape for her, and that it depicts exactly what it's reported to.

"I heard his voice, as clear as you and I are sitting here. I have heard the tape," Manigault Newman told NBC News on Sunday. "I have heard for two years that it existed, and once I heard it for myself, it was confirmed what I feared the most: That Donald Trump is a con, and has been masquerading as someone who is actually open to engaging with diverse communities. But when he talks that way, the way he did on this tape, it confirmed that he is truly a racist."

The White House has dismissed Manigault Newman's book, with Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying it's "riddled with lies and false accusations." In comments that many people viewed as flagrantly bigoted, Trump called Manigault Newman a "dog" and "lowlife," and his campaign has sued her over her comments, arguing that she violated an alleged non-disclosure agreement.

Trump himself insists that there are "NO TAPES" of him saying the N-word, and that he doesn't "have that word in my vocabulary, and never have."

The White House, however, has refused to offer such iron-clad assurance. When asked directly at a press briefing, Sanders refused to guarantee that the public would never heard a recording of Trump saying the N-word.

"I can't guarantee anything," Sanders replied. "I can tell you that I've never heard it."