Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman on Sunday said President Trump is “disingenuous” in his efforts to help the African-American community, and accused the president of wanting to start a race war.
“We have a lot to lose right now,” Manigault Newman said on MSNBC’s “Politics Nation,” referencing Trump’s appeal to African-American voters during the 2016 campaign.
“I believe he wants to start a race war in this country,” she added.
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Manigault Newman has made a flurry of media appearances over the last week to promote her new book, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House.” In the book, she recounts her time in the White House and on the Trump campaign, and accuses the president of being a racist.
Manigault Newman, who rose to fame on “The Apprentice” and was fired from the administration in December, argued she was as an advocate for the black community during her time in the White House.
“Every single time he had some type of issue with the community, I was there,” she said. “The one thing I realized once I was there was he was disingenuous to his commitment to diversity.”
Manigault Newman said Trump is a “performer,” and that he’s more interested in using minority leaders as props than for in-depth conversations.
In response to Manigault Newman’s media blitz, Trump and the White House have sought to attack her credibility, noting that she previously said overwhelmingly positive things about Trump as a person and as a president.
In an interview immediately after her White House dismissal, Manigault Newman denied Trump was a racist, saying she would never work for one.
Trump has ratcheted up the personal attacks on Twitter, calling Manigault Newman a “lowlife,” “wacky and deranged’ and a “dog.”
Manigault Newman, who reportedly has numerous recordings from her time in the administration, vowed on Sunday that she wouldn’t be intimidated by Trump’s attacks.
“[Trump] has taken the presidency to the gutter when he reduces this important office to name-calling,” she said.