Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Sunday suggested former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman may face criminal charges for recording Chief of Staff John Kelly in the situation room.
“Who in their right mind thinks it’s appropriate to secretly record the White House chief of staff in the Situation Room?” McDaniel asked in a tweet.
“Secretly recording conversations in the Situation Room isn’t just wildly inappropriate, it’s a threat to our national security. If she broke federal law, she should be prosecuted,” she added in a subsequent tweet.
Manigault Newman appeared Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where she played a recording she made of Kelly firing her from her job late last year. She explained that she made the recording secretly while the two spoke in the White House situation room.
{mosads}
In the 20-second recording, Kelly can be heard saying that Manigault Newman can “go on without any type of difficulty” relative to her reputation “if we make this a friendly departure.”
Manigault Newman said on Sunday that Kelly’s words were “very obviously a threat.”
A number of journalists, national security experts and former White House staffers noted that phones and recording devices are not allowed inside the situation room for security reasons. However, it’s unclear if Manigault Newman’s recording amounts to a criminal offense.
Manigault Newman, who rose to fame on “The Apprentice,” has returned to the spotlight after penning a memoir that recounts her time in the White House. The book alleges Trump is a racist, misogynist and narcissist, and that she was offered hush money to remain silent about her time in the White House.