Omarosa tape: former Donald Trump aide releases recorded phone call

A former adviser to Donald Trump has released a tape that purports to be a secret recording of a phone call between her and the president, after she was dismissed from her role.

Omarosa Manigault Newman (pictured above) released the tape ahead of the launch of her book, Unhinged, in which she reportedly makes several explosive claims, including Trump’s alleged repeated use of the N-word.

In the recording, Trump appears to be unaware that Manigault Newman, who appeared on Trump’s reality TV show The Apprentice, had been fired.

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“Omarosa, what's going on? I just saw in the news you're thinking about leaving. What happened?” Trump appears to say on the recording.

“General Kelly came to me and said that you guys wanted me to leave,” Manigault Newman replies.

“No. Nobody even told me about it,” Trump says. “You know, they run a big operation but I didn't know it. I didn't know that. Damn it, I don't love you leaving at all.”

However, CNN reports that when asked if she believed Trump knew that she had been fired, Manigault Newman said she did.

“He probably instructed General Kelly to do it so that he could keep his hands clean when he spoke to me,” she said. “I’m wondering, is he sincere? The other question is, is General Kelly running this country or is the president running this country?”

Following the release of the recording, Trump took to Twitter to lash out at Manigault Newman, calling her “Wacky Omarosa” and saying “She never made it, never will” and that she was “vicious, but not smart”.

Manigault Newman had previously released a recording of her dismissal by White House chief of staff John Kelly, in which he is heard to speak of “significant integrity issues” as the reason for her termination, the BBC says.