Omarosa reportedly taped 'nearly every conversation' while working at the White House using her personal cell phone
- Omarosa Manigault-Newman, the former communications director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, "nearly every conversation she had while working at the White House," according to an Axios report.
- A source told Axios that she carried two devices - a personal phone and a government-issued phone - and often had her personal phone recording before meetings or calls.
- The source added that she was trying to "cover her own butt."
- Earlier this month, Manigault-Newman said she has a "treasure trove" of videos, emails, and text messages to back up claims she has made in her newly-released tell-all book "Unhinged," which documents her time in the West Wing.
Omarosa Manigault-Newman, the former communications director of the White House Office of Public Liaison and "Apprentice" contestant, taped "nearly every conversation she had while working at the White House," Axios reported Monday.
A source with who watched Manigault-Newman make her tapes told Axios that she used her personal phone to note her conversations with staffers, including ones with "all of the Trumps." The source said Manigault-Newman carried two phones, one government issued and her personal cell, and nearly always had her personal phone on "record mode."
According to the report, Manigault-Newman would regularly put conversations on speaker and use her personal phone to record them. Before meetings, she would often set her phone's recording function and tuck the device into her pocket or small purse.
The source explained that Manigault-Newman recorded her conversations so she would be able to reference them at a later date. But, the source added, she also wanted to "cover her own butt" as a precautionary measure, as the White House has purged many of its senior staffers.
In January, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly reportedly imposed a ban on personal cell phones in order to cut down on leaks from staffers.
Earlier this month, Manigault-Newman told PBS in an interview that she has a "treasure trove" of videos, emails, and text messages to back up claims she has made in her newly-released tell-all book "Unhinged," which documents her time in the West Wing.
Manigault-Newman reportedly secretly recorded President Donald Trump and played the audio for people, and released audio this month of the chief of staff, John Kelly, firing her in the Situation Room.
Manigault-Newman may also have as many as 200 other recordings of people from her time in the White House, which has reportedly rattled the White House.
She has also claimed that there are tapes of Trump using the N-word on the set of the "Apprentice," which White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has since said she "can't guarantee" don't exist.
The White House has slammed allegations made by Manigault-Newman in her book, and Trump has called her "wacky" and a "lowlife" who "begged" him for a job.