The Department of Education is accusing Omarosa Manigault Newman of “peddling lies for profit,” after the former White House aide claimed in her new tell-all book that President Trump calls Education Secretary Besty DeVos “Ditzy” behind her back.
“This disgraced former White House employee is peddling lies for profit,” Department of Education press secretary Liz Hill told ITK in a Wednesday statement about Newman’s just-released book, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House.”
“The book is a joke,” Hill said, “as are the false claims she’s making about Secretary DeVos.”
{mosads}Manigault Newman blasts DeVos in the explosive book, writing, “There is no way she should be secretary of education” and that “the depth and breadth of her ignorance is a travesty for the children.”
Manigault Newman, a former “Apprentice” contestant, writes that Trump vowed to “get rid” of DeVos last year. The reality TV veteran says she was stranded at a hotel after DeVos was “loudly booed” during a 2017 visit to Bethune-Cookman University and then left town earlier than had been scheduled, leaving Manigault Newman behind.
“Once I returned and told [Trump] about what had happened, he shook his head in disgust,” Manigault Newman writes. “[Trump] said, ‘She is Ditzy DeVos, what do you expect? In a very short period of time, I will get rid of her. Believe me, believe me.’ ”
The White House has condemned the book, calling it “riddled with lies and false accusations.”
On Tuesday, Trump’s reelection campaign filed an arbitration action against Manigault Newman over several claims in her book.