If there's one thing that Omarosa Manigault Newman has made abundantly clear this week, it's that she has a lot of tapes from her time as a White House aide. On Thursday, she released her fourth one of the week, in which Trump campaign official Lara Trump offers her a $15,000-a-month job just after Manigault Newman was fired from the administration.
On the tape, Lara Trump — who is married to Donald Trump's son, Eric — alludes to Manigault Newman possibly obtaining sensitive and/or damaging information on Trump while in the White House. She seemingly implies that Manigault Newman would have to keep anything like that to herself. "It sounds a little like, obviously, that there are some things you've got in the back pocket to pull out," Lara Trump says. "Clearly, if you come on board the campaign, like, we can't have, we got to..." before Manigault Newman interrupts with "Oh, God no."
"Everything, everybody, positive, right?" Lara Trump says.
According to Manigault Newman, the job for the Trump campaign that Lara Trump was offering would've required that she sign a nondisclosure agreement. She didn't accept the position.
Manigault Newman initially released the tape to MSNBC. In an interview with the network's Craig Melvin, she said what happened on the tape was proof of "an attempt" by Trump's team "to buy my silence, to censor me, and to pay me off."
Melvin even asked her if she saw the situation as "hush money," to which Manigault Newman replied, "Absolutely."
Omarosa on her recorded conversation with Lara Trump:
“I saw this as an attempt to buy my silence, to censor me, and to pay me off."https://t.co/lSr6791AGCpic.twitter.com/x6jg0RxXUS
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 16, 2018
Also on the tape is Lara Trump discussing Newman's potential salary. "And that all the money that we raise and that pays salaries is directly from donors, small-dollar donors for the most part. So, I know you, you were making 179 at the White House. And I think we can work something out where we keep you right along those lines," Lara Trump says. "Specifically, let me see, I haven't even added up the numbers. But we were talking about, like, 15K a month. Let me see what that adds up to. Times 12. Yeah."
She then asked Manigault Newman if $180,000 sounded "like a fair deal."
What was released on Thursday is apparently not the full tape. Manigault Newman said she only wanted to "undergird everything" in her book. Regarding any other tapes or information she has on the campaign, Manigault Newman admitted that she had witnessed "corruption," but "there are things I'm going to save to share when the time is right."
The Trump campaign responded to the release of the tape by having a lawyer send a letter to Simon and Schuster, the publisher of Manigault Newman's book that was released two days ago. According to the campaign, Manigault Newman was "in violation of an agreement she had signed with the Trump campaign," and "the publisher and others would face claims should it proceed with selling the book,"NBC News reported. Simon and Schuster reportedly said they would indeed be proceeding, and that they "will not be intimidated."
Lara Trump herself released a statement. "I shared a connection with Omarosa as a friend and a campaign sister, and I am absolutely shocked and saddened by her betrayal and violation on a deeply personal level," part of the statement read.
The incident was the latest in a series of for Manigault Newman, who has been making headlines while completing the press tour for her book, a memoir of her time spent working for Trump. She told MSNBC that she'd continue releasing tapes as long as Trump's people continue to challenge her.