CBS News White House Correspondent Abby D. Phillips received another tape from Omarosa Manigault Newman of a conference call with Katrina Pierson and Lynne Patton, two black Trump aides, and campaign communications director Jason Miller. They are heard allegedly discussing the ‘n’ word incident.
The phantom ‘n’ tape is discussed in Manigault’s new book, Unhinged, published by Simon and Schuster which is owned by CBS.
Omarosa was interviewed on CBS This Morning Tuesday about the latest tape. She said she has been taping right through the campaign to the day the President called her after she was fired. She added she did it because everyone lies in the Trump Campaign. When pressed, Omarosa said everyone lied in the Clinton campaign too.
RESPONSES SO FAR
Lynne Patton is the first to respond to this latest tape. She said, “nice try” Obamarosa. “We never disputed we had multiple conversations about the alleged “Apprentice” tape b/c you were obsessed with it. What I disputed is a call CONFIRMING Luntz heard it. To the contrary, you PROVE Trump denied saying it ASAP. What you can’t deny is December!”
Nice try, @OMAROSA. We never disputed we had multiple conversations about the alleged “Apprentice” tape b/c you were obsessed with it. What I disputed is a call CONFIRMING Luntz heard it. To the contrary, you PROVE Trump denied saying it ASAP. What you can’t deny is December! pic.twitter.com/eCoZ48MzVE
— 🇺🇸 Lynne Patton (@LynnePatton) August 14, 2018
Omarosa has made several misstatements about the alleged ‘n’ tape, including one in which she accuses Mr. Luntz of having heard Mr. Trump using the ‘n’ word. Luntz has vehemently denied it. Luntz tweeted: “I repeat: I’ve never heard Trump (in-person or on tape) use the N-word. Anyone who claims otherwise is spreading #FakeNews.”
Ms. Patton gave an official statement yesterday which you can read here or below.
MS. PIERSON HAS POINTED TO CONTRADICTIONS
On Monday, Ms. Pierson sent out the next tweet pointing to contradictions by Omarosa. In the HuffPo story linked in her tweet, Omarosa said that a former contestant on The Apprentice, Troy McClain played the ‘n’ word tape for Omarosa. This is the significant paragraph from the HuffPo story:
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McClain, reached by phone, confirmed that he met with Manigault Newman in the White House in December 2017, while she was director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison, but when McClain was asked if he played a recording for her of the president using a racial slur, he laughed and said, “You’ve got to be bullshitting me. Is this a joke?”
.@Hardball Omarosa said she only just now heard the fake apprentice tape for the first time post-publication, but that’s not what she told @LynnePatton on 12/12/17 at 11:30pm #Oops https://t.co/4iquVrJI53 #Unhinged
— Katrina Pierson (@KatrinaPierson) August 14, 2018
Ms. Pierson was on Erin Burnett’s show this evening and will be on Fox News at 11 p.m. Ms. Pierson thanked Erin Burnett for letting her tell her side of the story. Ms. Pierson said she was simply placating Omarosa and it’s clear to her now that only Omarosa was circulating that story.
She battled with Ed Henry who pressed her.
The President has also denied it and has not yet responded specifically to this latest tape. However, after it was released, he tweeted that she is a ‘dog’. That has led to the media calling him a racist and a sexist.
When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
THE TAPE
All the tapes released so far are cut short and the ‘n’ word is not specifically mentioned in the latest one in the next clip. It’s hard to know if Omarosa and/or CBS do selective editing.
It appears that Pierson is confirming the ‘n’ word was used.
Watch:
THE ‘N’ TAPE DOESN’T APPEAR TO EXIST
But the ‘n’ tape doesn’t appear to exist despite Omarosa’s claims. People have searched far and wide for it.
Trump’s former colleagues during his Apprentice days know of a lot of nasty comments from Trump, reports Asawin Suebsang of the Daily Beast, but not that one. Suebsang has been hunting for the tape since Tom Arnold claimed it existed.
The shifting accounts offered by Manigault Newman and the fact that this was brought up after her firing certainly goes toward assessing her credibility. Her book has also had credibility issues.
LYNNE PATTON’S STATEMENT MONDAY
Official Statement on Omarosa Manigault-Newman
My name is Lynne Patton and I am a senior official in the Trump Administration.
White House leadership, both past and present, can confirm that I was the closest confidante & friend to Ms. Manigault-Newman during her tenure at the White House, Transition and Campaign – texting and speaking multiple times per day.
To that end, Omarosa attempted to contact me just two days ago, but I refused to accept her call.
Like Ms. Manigault-Newman, I have also known and worked for both the President and his family for over a decade and am confident that they would collectively confirm that I know them far better than she.
To be clear, at no time did I participate in a conference call with Katrina Pierson advising me, Jason Miller and Omarosa Manigault-Newman that Frank Luntz had heard President Donald J. Trump use a derogatory racial term – a claim that Luntz himself has also denied.
What I can confirm is the following:
On December 12, 2017, at approximately 11:30PM (EST) – a date I now know to be the evening Omarosa was relieved of her official duties by General Kelly – I received a telephone call from her informing me that she had personally heard a second-hand recording of President Trump using the “N-word” in a derogatory fashion.
She proceeded to tell me the full name of the individual who played this second-hand tape for her, from whom the primary audio tape had originated, as well as the specific context of the President’s usage of this term and to whom the derogatory term was allegedly directed.
Omarosa also proceeded to inform me that she had officially submitted her resignation to General Kelly and that I should promptly do the same before the audio surfaced.
The next morning, I immediately notified senior communications officials and a Trump family member of the same, only to discover the true nature of her departure was termination.
Today, the individual who Omarosa confirmed to me as having played the second-hand audio recording to her last year confirmed that they have no tape, never had possession of a tape, never claimed to have possession of a tape and never played such a tape for Ms. Manigault-Newman.
Tonight, on the MSNBC program, Hardball, Omarosa revealed to the general public what she had told me last December: That former Apprentice producer, Bill Pruitt, was the original source of the “N-word” tape.
Bill Pruitt is a mutual friend.
I just spoke to Bill Pruitt tonight before releasing this statement.
He confirmed to me (before Hardball had even gone off the air) that he does NOT have an audio tape of President Trump using the “N-word” and has NEVER had an audio tape of President Trump using the “N-word.” Period.
Suffice it to say that the past few weeks have been wrought with disappointment, immense sadness, anger and outright disgust.
Based upon her conflicting accounts and the newfound information revealed in my statement, it should be abundantly clear to everyone that not only is her book a complete work of fiction, but that the existence of this elusive “N-word” tape is a figment of her imagination and merely a destructive tool of manipulation applied only when it best serves her interests.
Like countless other minorities and women, the President has given me the opportunity of a lifetime to rise up through the ranks of The Trump Organization and now proudly serve this country.
Therefore, unless directed otherwise, this will be my only statement on this baseless accusation and imaginary audio tape, as falsely claimed by a former friend.
My primary and sole focus remains the low-income and public housing residents of New York & New Jersey, as the President, would expect it to be — and as the President has hired me to do.
Thank you. 🇺🇸 #MAGA
The article was updated to include information about the ‘n’ tape not existing and Katrina Pierson’s responses.
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