Trump files case against ex-aide; breach of confidentiality over new book is arbitration claim

White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that she could not guarantee that President Donald Trump had never used a racial slur but stressed that Trump has denied it.
White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that she could not guarantee that President Donald Trump had never used a racial slur but stressed that Trump has denied it.

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's campaign said Tuesday that it filed an arbitration case against Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former campaign aide and West Wing official whose tell-all book has roiled the White House.

A campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the claim was filed in New York City for breach of a confidentiality agreement Manigault Newman had signed with the Trump campaign in 2016. The official did not immediately respond to questions about which court the claim was filed in.

But the filing was a major escalation by Trump against Manigault Newman, whose book, Unhinged, is the first account by a former White House aide to make embarrassing allegations about the president and his team. Manigault Newman describes him as a "racist" and misogynist whose mental health is in decline. She also takes aim at his daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was a key intermediary in getting her into the White House.

Trump had aides on the campaign sign nondisclosure agreements, the same type of measure he has used for employees at his private real estate company for decades. The first section of the nondisclosure agreement says no confidential information is to be released during the term of service or anytime "thereafter."

Manigault Newman, who was the communications director for the Office of Public Liaison in the White House until being fired in December, has released tapes over several days that revealed her private conversations with Trump and other officials connected to him. That has stoked interest in the book and also called into question denials from Trump's team. Most of her news media appearances have been on NBC, the network that vaulted her to prominence on The Apprentice with Trump more than a decade ago.

Based on the volume of recordings, she spent much of her time in the White House preparing to monetize it afterward, current West Wing officials said.

Manigault Newman, who has painted a damning picture of Trump and alleged there is a videotape of him using a racial slur, told The Associated Press she is not going away.

"I will not be silenced. I will not be intimidated. And I'm not going to be bullied by Donald Trump," she said.

Trump, who has denied the existence of any such tape, assailed Manigault Newman while praising his chief of staff, John Kelly, "for quickly firing that dog!"

Manigault Newman said that "at every single opportunity he insults African Americans," and she accused him of trying to start a "race war."

White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted Tuesday that the president's insults were not racially motivated, saying: "This has absolutely nothing to do with race and everything to do with the president calling out someone's integrity."

Central to Manigault Newman's argument that Trump is racially biased is her claim that she had heard an audiotape of him using the N-word. Trump has pushed back, tweeting that he had received a call from the producer of The Apprentice assuring him "there are NO TAPES of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa."

Sanders said she could not guarantee Trump had never used a racial slur. Asked if she could say with certainty that Trump had never used that particular slur, she said, "I haven't been in every single room," though she stressed that the president has addressed the question and denied ever using such language.

Manigault Newman provided CBS another audio recording Tuesday that she said showed campaign workers discussing the alleged recording.

Trump insisted, "I don't have that word in my vocabulary, and never have." He said Manigault Newman had called him "a true champion of civil rights" until she was fired.

Manigault Newman also told MSNBC on Tuesday that she's been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller's team investigating Russian election interference, though she did not provide any details. A person familiar with the White House response to the investigation said that at no time prior to her departure did the Mueller team request documents related to her or seek an interview with her. The person insisted on anonymity to discuss the investigation.

Information for this article was contributed by Catherine Lucey, Errin Haines Whack and Darlene Superville of The Associated Press; and by Maggie Haberman of The New York Times.

photo

AP/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS

Former White House staff member Omarosa Manigault Newman (shown right, in March 2017) contends he did and faces a breach of confidentiality agreement claim by the Trump campaign. “I will not be silenced. I will not be intimidated. And I’m not going to be bullied by Donald Trump,” Manigault Newman said.

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