Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that Republicans should not be “okay” with President Trump referring to former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman as a “dog.”
“This kind of language is unbecoming of a President of the United States,” Flake, a frequent critic of the president who is retiring at the end of this Congress, said on Twitter in reference to an earlier tweet from Trump.
“There is no excuse for it, and Republicans should not be okay with it,” Flake continued.
Trump took to Twitter Tuesday morning to slam Manigault Newman, who was once the highest-ranking African-American woman in the West Wing, after she released a series of secretly recorded tapes from her time in the White House.
“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!” Trump said on Twitter, referring to White House chief of staff John Kelly.
{mosads}The president’s remark came the same morning CBS News released a recording in which Manigault Newman appears to discuss with Trump aides how to handle the potential fallout from an alleged tape in which she claims Trump used the N-word.
The recording appears to be of an internal call during Trump’s 2016 campaign about the alleged tape, which Manigault Newman claims was created during Trump’s time as host of “The Apprentice.”
While it is unclear from the call if Manigault Newman or the Trump aides heard the alleged tape, parts of the discussion suggest that he acknowledged using the racial slur.
The latest recording arrives as the former White House aide promotes a new memoir, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House.”