WASHINGTON (NBC News) — Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman said Sunday that she has personally heard a tape of President Donald Trump using the N-word during filming for NBC’s "The Apprentice," a revelation she says "confirmed that he is truly a racist."
Newman made the charge during an exclusive interview with NBC’s "Meet the Press," days before the release of her new book on Tuesday, "Unhinged." In her book, Newman describes hearing about the tape but not hearing it herself. She said Sunday that she had since heard it personally after the publication of the book.
She said she had "heard for two years that it existed and once I heard it for myself, it was confirmed, what I feared the most: That Donald Trump is a con and has been masquerading as someone who is actually open to engaging with diverse communities." she said. "But when he talks that way, the way he did on this tape, it confirmed that he is truly a racist."
Newman didn’t specify when exactly the tape was from, but that it was from Trump’s time hosting the show and spinoffs through early 2015.
Newman described herself as being "complicit" to the White House deceiving the American people and her about its interest in advocating for the black community.
"It is hindsight. But I will say this to you, I was complicit with this White House deceiving this nation," she said.
"They continue to deceive this nation by how mentally declined he is. How difficult it is for him to process complex information. How he is not engaged in some of the most important decisions that impacts our country. I was complicit, and for that I regret."
The White House and Trump allies have blasted Newman’s account as false in numerous statements.
"Instead of telling the truth about all the good President Trump and his administration are doing to make America safe and prosperous, this book is riddled with lies and false accusations," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Friday.
"It’s sad that a disgruntled former White House employee is trying to profit off these false attacks, and even worse that the media would now give her a platform, after not taking her seriously when she had only positive things to say about the President during her time in the administration.”
On Saturday, Trump blasted Newman as a "lowlife" in response to questions from reporters about her claims.
And the Republican National Committee pointed to her sudden admission she heard the tape where Trump allegedly said the N-word, despite her writing that she had only heard about it second-hand, as proof she shouldn’t be trusted.
But Newman pushed back against her critics by arguing that she can substantiate her claims in the book. On Sunday, "Meet the Press" aired a audio of a conversation Newman said was surreptitiously recorded of White House chief of staff John Kelly firing her.
"I have documentation, a whole treasure-trove of documentation for everything you see in this book," she said.
And she claimed that the Trump campaign offered her a job in exchange for signing a restrictive non-disclosure agreement to keep her from talking critically about her time with the campaign and the White House. Newman provided what she said were copies of those agreements to "Meet the Press."
Sunday’s interview marked the start of Newman’s publicity tour for her forthcoming book, "Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House." She will also appear Monday morning on NBC’s "Today."
