In an appearance on Good Morning America Thursday, Omarosa Manigault Newman discussed her departure from the Trump administration and denied reports that she was fired and escorted from the White House.
GMA host Michael Strahan asked about reports that Manigault Newman was concerned with the president’s decisions in responding to Charlottesville and in endorsing Roy Moore.
“Because I am serving until the 20th, I have to be careful about how I answer this, but there were a lot of things I observed over the past year that I was uncomfortable with,” she said.
.@omarosa on her time at the White House with Trump administration: “There were a lot of things that I observed during the last year that I was very unhappy with, that I was very uncomfortable with." Pic.twitter.com/qKHSyw6y4B
— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 14, 2017
Manigault Newman supported Trump as a candidate early on and worked as director of African-American Outreach during the campaign. Her most recent title was director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison, a position in which she was tasked with working on outreach to various constituency groups.
News of her ouster came the day after black Americans helped elect Doug Jones, a Democrat, to the Senate in the overwhelmingly red state of Alabama. Just 7% of black men and 3% of black women voted for Roy Moore, the candidate endorsed by President Trump.
With Manigault Newman’s departure, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson will be the only remaining black official among Trump’s more than three dozen cabinet members and senior staffers. It is the least diverse cabinet since Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in 1981.
President Trump tweeted his thanks and well wishes on Wednesday.
Thank you Omarosa for your service! I wish you continued success.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017
Her relationship with the president dates back to her appearance on The Apprentice in 2004. The reality-star, better known just as Omarosa, earned $179,700 in her White House role though it’s unclear exactly what her duties were.
She insisted on GMA Thursday morning that she had a “very candid conversation” with Chief of Staff John Kelly about leaving the administration and that rumors of her firing were the result of “one person” with a “personal vendetta” against her.