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Omarosa taping Trump's situation room may be one of the worst White House security breaches ever

Aug 13, 2018, 17:27 IST

Omarosa Manigault claims in her new book that she was offered $15,000-a-month to sign an NDA after she was fired from the White House.Getty

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  • Former aide to President Donald Trump, Omarosa Manigault, released a tape of Chief of Staff John Kelly firing her in the situation room.
  • The situation room is an ultra-secured location where recording devices and cell phones are banned.
  • A former National Secuirty Counsel spokesman said it's the most serious breach of protocol he's ever heard of.

Omarosa Manigault, the reality TV star who President Donald Trump took from "The Apprentice" to the White House, recorded Chief of Staff John Kelly in the situation room in what may be one of the worst security breaches in the history of the office.

The White House's situation room is a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, where the president makes top-level decisions on national policy, oftentimes issues of life and death in response to war or crisis.

National security professionals go to extreme lengths to ensure the security and of the conversations in and out of the room. A team follows the president and can establish one of these rooms in short notice when needed.

Importantly, staffers must give up recording devices or cell phones when entering the room. Omarosa managed to get a recording out of the situation room and play it on national television this week.

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Ned Price, spokesman of the National Security Council in the Obama administration said he'd "never heard of a more serious breach of protocol," according to Axios.

Price on Twitter explained how such a breach could take place.

"There's a misimpression that it'd be difficult to sneak a phone into the Sit Room. It wouldn't be. It's a system built on trust. These are supposed to be the finest public servants we have. The WH wasn't designed for the Omarosas of the world. Sad we now have to accommodate them," he tweeted.

"Why was she there in the first place? Why did John Kelly, who has a large, private office, feel that was the best place to fire her?" Price continued.

The current White House also frowned on Omarosa's actions.

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Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "The very idea a staff member would sneak a recording device into the White House Situation Room, shows a blatant disregard for our national security - and then to brag about it on national television further proves the lack of character and integrity of this disgruntled former White House employee."

So far, tapes produced by Omarosa, who blamed a dishonest White House for bringing her to tape conversations, have contained little more than innocuous conversation.

The tapes played by Omarosa on TV so far have included John Kelly firing her in the situation room and Trump purportedly calling her the next day to say he didn't know about the firing and that he was unhappy with it.

NOW WATCH: Meet the woman behind Trump's $20 million merch empire

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