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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Trump administration appointee <keyword id="11057076" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="lynne-patton">Lynne Patton</keyword> has been penalized by the Office of Special Counsel.</li><li>The Office of Special Counsel said Patton violated the Hatch Act. </li><li>Patton accepted a 48-month ban from federal employment and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.</li></ul><p>Former Housing and Urban Development official and Trump administration appointee Lynne Patton has been penalized by the Office of Special Council for violating the Hatch Act.</p><p><a href="https://osc.gov/News/Pages/20-15-HUD-Hatch-Act-Discipline.aspx">In a settlement announced on Tuesday,</a> Patton accepted a 48-month ban from federal employment and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.</p><p>Patton, who served as a Region II administrator for HUD, admitted to violating the Hatch Act through using her position to produce a video for the Republican National Convention.</p><p>The Office of Special Counsel said in a statement that Patton created a video of housing conditions while living in the New York City Housing Authority.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-legal-jeopardy-new-york-georgia-doj-capitol-riot-investigation-2021-4">Trump and his advisors are shrugging off DOJ's Capitol riot probe. But they see danger in the Georgia and New York investigations.</a></em></p><p>"By using information and NYCHA connections available to her solely by virtue of her HUD position, Patton improperly harassed the authority of her federal position to assist the Trump camping in violation of the Hatch act," the Office Special Counsel said.</p><p>The Hatch Act of 1939 bars top-level government officials other than the president and vice president from taking part in political activity.</p><p>But several Trump administration staffers were accused of flouting the Hatch Act regulations at the RNC last year, and insiders previously said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-aides-proud-to-violate-hatch-act-ethics-laws-reports-2020-8">Trump aides took "pride" in violating ethics laws.</a></p><p><em>This is a developing story. Please check back for more details.</em></p>

Former Trump official Lynne Patton was penalized for violating the Hatch Act

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Three <keyword id="72226" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="New-York-City">New York City</keyword> public housing tenants who appeared in a video shown at the <keyword id="889381" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Republican-National-Convention">Republican National Convention</keyword> told <keyword id="187229" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="the-New-York-Times">The New York Times</keyword> didn't know their interview would be used to endorse President Donald Trump.</li><li>Claudia Perez, Carmen Quiñones, and Manny Martinez said the interview was a chance to air their frustrations with the city's housing authority and Mayor Bill de Blasio, but they don't support Trump.</li><li>Lynne Patton, head of the New York office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, hit back at the Times' report, insisting in a tweet that participants said the video was "'amazing' and 'wholly accurate.'"</li></ul><p>New York City public housing tenants who were featured in a video for the Republican National Convention told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/28/nyregion/nyc-tenants-rnc-video-trump.html">The New York Times</a> they didn't know their interview would be used to endorse President Donald Trump. </p><p>Claudia Perez, Carmen Quiñones, and Manny Martinez were three of four featured tenants in the video, which was an interview with Lynne Patton, head of the New York office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. </p><p>The fourth participant told The Times when reached for comment that she did support Trump and knew the purpose of the video.  </p><p>Quiñones, however, told The Times that the interview was focused on airing frustrations with problems in the housing agency, and the tenants' edited comments offer harsh criticisms of Mayor Bill de Blasio. Despite their frustrations with the Democratic mayor, they told The Times they had no intention of supporting Trump. </p><p>"I am not a Trump supporter," Perez told The Times. "I am not a supporter of his racist policies on immigration. I am a first-generation Honduran. It was my people he was sending back."</p><p>Patton hit back at the story and Times reporter Matthew Haag on Twitter, where she said "each resident is on unused tape thanking @POTUS for the "RNC platform" to highlight inhumane conditions &amp; improvements made under this Admin," she wrote. </p><p>The Times noted that as a government official, Patton is barred by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-chief-of-staff-says-nobody-cares-hatch-act-violations-2020-8">the Hatch Act from using her position to participate in political campaigns</a>.</p><p>She said in a subsequent tweet that said "every resident" of New York City Housing Authority "knows that I would never allow the @GOPconvention to air anything with which they felt uncomfortable &amp; showed the draft video - in full - to the resident organizer PRIOR to its airing and was told by them that it was 'amazing' and 'wholly accurate.'"</p><p>The conflict over the clip is just the latest of Trump's contributions to this week's convention that raised eyebrows including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-abused-the-powers-of-the-presidency-a-the-republican-convention-2020-8">a feature of immigrants who became US citizens</a> in a naturalization process but <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/immigrants-trump-naturalization-ceremony-werent-told-was-part-of-rnc-2020-8">weren't told the ceremony would be aired as part of the convention</a>. </p><p>Watchdog group <a href="https://twitter.com/CREWcrew/status/1298449272648749056" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington</a> said on Twitter that the ceremony was "so obviously, blatantly, insultingly a Hatch Act violation that it's starting to seem like the Trump administration is going out of its way to find new ways to violate the law." </p>

NYC public housing tenants say they aren't Trump supporters but were used in an RNC video to support his campaign

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Democratic Rep. Brenda Lawrence went after GOP Rep. Mark Meadows for bringing Lynne Patton, a Trump administration employee, to Michael Cohen's testimony on Wednesday.&#xa0;</li><li>Meadows brought Patton, who is black, to make the case Trump isn't racist.&#xa0;</li><li><span>During the hearing, Lawrence said, I just want to put on the record, as being a black American and having endured the public comments of racism from the sitting president, as being a black person, I can only imagine what's being said in private."</span></li><li><span>Lawrence added, "To prop up one member of our race and to say that nullifies it is </span>totally insulting."&#xa0;</li><li>Follow along with<span>&#xa0;</span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-trump-testimony-congress-house-2019-2">all the updates from Cohen's testimony here.</a></li></ul><p>Democratic Rep. Brenda Lawrence of Michigan ripped into her Republican colleague Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina for bringing a black woman who works in the Trump administration to Michael Cohen's testimony on Wednesday to prove the president isn't racist.&#xa0;</p><p>Lawrence said that given the things President Donald Trump has said about minorities publicly, she can "only imagine" what he's said privately.&#xa0;</p><p><span>"I just want to put on the record, as being a black American and having endured the public comments of racism from the sitting president, as being a black person, I can only imagine what's being said in private," Lawrence said.</span></p><p><span>Lawrence added, "To prop up one member of our race and to say that nullifies it is </span>totally insulting."</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>Meadows invited Lynne Patton, who works in the Department of Housing and Urban Development and has longtime ties to Trump, as his guest to Cohen's testimony. During Wednesday's hearing, Meadows pointed to Patton as evidence Trump cannot be racist.&#xa0;</p><p>Earlier in the day, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-trump-racist-country-shithole-2019-2">Cohen said Trump "is a racist"</a> who <span>once asked him if he "could name a country run by a black person that wasn't a 'shithole.' This was when Barack Obama was President of the United States."</span></p><p><span>Cohen added that Trump once told him "black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid. And yet I continued to work for him."</span></p><p>Patton on Wednesday afternoon rejected Cohen's comments in an interview with PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor.&#xa0;</p><p>"To me, today was not about the color of my skin," <a href="https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1100851244518817793">Patton said.</a> "Today was about two people who know the president equally and who disagree."</p><p><span>Trump has been decried as racist for years, particularly due to his central role in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-conspiracy-theories-2016-5">perpetuating a conspiracy theory about former President Barack Obama's place of birth.</a> His rhetoric and policies as president, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-doesnt-deny-calling-african-countries-shitholes-2018-4">especially regarding immigrants</a>, have compounded these views.</span></p><div><h2>Read more about Cohen's testimony:</h2></div><div><ul class="read-more-links"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-to-testify-that-trump-knew-about-wikileaks-document-dump-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Michael Cohen will testify that Trump knew Roger Stone was in touch with WikiLeaks during the election</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-opening-statement-testimony-congress-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">'I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is': Michael Cohen's bombshell opening statement before the House Oversight Committee drops hours before he is scheduled to testify</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-the-4-documents-he-gave-the-house-oversight-committee-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Here are the 4 documents Michael Cohen says he gave to the House Oversight Committee that could be problematic for Trump</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-alleges-payments-from-trump-while-he-was-president-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Michael Cohen details hush-money payments in bombshell opening statement: 'Lying to the First Lady is one of my biggest regrets'</a></li></ul></div><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-15-presidents-historians-survey-abraham-lincoln-george-washington-lyndon-johnson-barack-obama-ronald-reagan-2017-2">The top 15 presidents according to historians</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Black Democratic lawmaker slams GOP colleague for trying to 'prop up one member of our race' to prove Trump isn't racist

<p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">Lynne Patton.</p>Lynne Patton, Eric Trump's wedding planner and former Vice President of the Eric Trump Foundation, has been chosen by the Trump administration to lead Region II of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which includes New York and New Jersey.<p>Starting July 5, Patton will oversee Section 8 vouchers, various grant programs, and billions of dollars in federal funding for public housing, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-chooses-family-event-planner-run-n-y-housing-programs-article-1.3251314?via=newsletter&amp;source=CSAMedition">according to</a> The New York Daily News.</p><p><span><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnepatton/">Her resume </a>didn't include experience in anything related to housing or urban planning until January 2017, when she was appointed as HUD's director of public engagement.</span></p><p>In 2014, Patton planned the wedding of Eric Trump, son of Donald Trump, and was an advisor to the Trump campaign. From 2009 to 2011, she was a Trump Organization <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnepatton/">event organizer of</a> "upscale events and celebrity golf tournaments," PR, and fundraising.</p><p>Her LinkedIn page also <a href="https://twitter.com/LynnePatton/status/875562663111147520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fjezebel.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-875562663111147520%26autosize%3D1">lists</a> Yale University as her alma mater, a fact Politico <a href="http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/playbook/2017/06/16/ny-daily-news-trumps-new-ny-hud-director-planned-eric-trumps-wedding-has-no-housing-experience-dems-drub-gop-at-baseball-game-a-record-24-959-tickets-sold-pence-hires-mcguirewoods-cullen-bday-bres-220870">suggests</a> is not true. For two semesters, she attended the Quinnipiac University of Law but <a href="https://twitter.com/LynnePatton/status/875562663111147520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fjezebel.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-875562663111147520%26autosize%3D1">did not graduate</a>, according to the NY Daily News. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature and psychology from the University of Miami.</p><p>As HUD's Region II director, Patton will be responsible for distributing funds to important city services, including the <span>New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), which needs an estimated $17 billion in upgrades. In March, NYCHA officials <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-aid-reduced-for-new-york-city-housing-authority-1488844639?tesla=y">told</a> The Wall Street Journal that HUD may slash up to $150 million in funding from its programs - the largest decrease in five years.</span></p><p>The states of New York and New Jersey rely on HUD's programs to provide vital social services, disaster recovery, and investments in critical infrastructure. Patton will likely have a steep learning curve.</p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ian-bremmer-trump-impeachment-russia-scandal-iran-contra-watergate-2017-5">IAN BREMMER: Trump won't be impeached - his scandal is more like Iran-Contra, not Watergate</a></h3>                                    Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Trump has tapped his son's wedding planner to run federal housing programs in New York

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Drew Angerer/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Omarosa Manigault-Newman.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>President Donald Trump's campaign announced Tuesday that it's suing former top White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.</strong></li><li><strong>The news comes in response to Manigault Newman's new tell-all book on the White House. She has also released a trio of secret recordings - including one of Trump - in recent days.</strong></li></ul><p>President Donald Trump's campaign announced on Tuesday that it's suing former top White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman for allegedly breaching a 2016 non-disclosure agreement by releasing secret recordings of top officials, including Trump, and writing a tell-all book on the campaign and administration she served.</p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/exclusive-charges-against-omarosa-filed-by-trump-campaign-millions-sought" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Examiner</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/PhilipRucker/status/1029387046509584384" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a>, and the <a href="https://www.ctpost.com/entertainment/article/AP-source-Trump-campaign-files-arbitration-13154968.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a> reported that the campaign filed for arbitration against Manigault Newman with the American Arbitration Association in New York City for violating the agreement. </p><p>The campaign told The Examiner that Manigault Newman, a controversial former contestant on NBC's "The Apprentice," broke the NDA by disparaging Trump in her new book, "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Unhinged-Insiders-Account-Trump-White/dp/198210970X" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House,</a>" and by releasing secret recordings from the White House and campaign. Manigault Newman recorded chief of staff John Kelly from the White House Situation Room during her firing, in addition to recording her conversation with Trump that followed her firing.</p><p>She has released both of those recordings, in addition to a third recording on Tuesday of a conversation with then-Trump campaign officials Jason Miller, Lynn Patton, and Katrina Pierson. The four discussed the possible existence of an audio recording of Trump saying the N-word.</p><p>Manigault Newman claimed in her book that she heard of the existence of such a recording, though she said in recent interviews that she's now heard the tape. Patton and Pierson, in addition to a number of Trump officials, have denied the existence of such a tape.</p><p>Trump, for his part, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-calls-omarosa-dog-after-she-alleges-proof-of-him-saying-n-word-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has vehemently denied saying the word</a>. The president has also called Manigault Newman a "crazed, crying lowlife," a "dog," and "wacky and deranged."</p><p>The 2016 NDA Manigault Newman signed with the Trump campaign stipulated she she never "disparage" the Trump family "during the term of your service and at all times thereafter," The Examiner reported.</p><p>Manigault-Newman claimed she did not sign such an agreement for her White House work or as a prior condition to work for the 2020 campaign, a job that ultimately never came to be. But the 2016 agreement remains in force, the campaign told The Examiner.</p><p>One official told The Examiner that the campaign is seeking millions in retaliation for her violation of the 2016 agreement. The campaign may also seek any "ill-gotten profits" from her tell-all book.</p><p>Similar non-disclosure agreements are commonplace for the Trump campaign, the Trump Organization, and the Trump White House, though they were almost unheard of in prior administrations, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/everyone-signed-one-trump-is-aggressive-in-his-use-of-nondisclosure-agreements-even-in-government/2018/08/13/9d0315ba-9f15-11e8-93e3-24d1703d2a7a_story.html?utm_term=.358f8984073c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Post reported</a>.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-to-north-korea-defector-2018-8">A North Korean defector's harrowing story of escape</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

The Trump campaign is suing Omarosa for millions after her tell-all book and recordings set off a firestorm

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Freshman Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib concluded the Democrats' questioning of President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, at the House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday.</li><li>Ocasio-Cortez helped build a case for House Democrats to subpoena new individuals and the president's tax returns.</li><li>Pressley dug into Trump's alleged improper use of his charitable foundation, and Tlaib argued that no further information is needed to show that Trump "disregarded the law."</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-trump-testimony-congress-house-2019-2#cohen-there-is-no-doubt-in-my-mind-that-trump-knew-what-he-was-paying-for-when-he-reimbursed-me-1">Read our full coverage of the hearing here</a>.</li></ul><p>Freshman Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib concluded the Democrats' questioning of President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, at the House Oversight Committee <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Yk4WK4vjA&amp;feature=youtu.be">hearing on Wednesday.</a></p><p>Ocasio-Cortez helped build a case for House Democrats to subpoena new individuals and the president's tax returns in their investigations of Trump's alleged wrongdoing.</p><p>In response to the Ocasio-Cortez's questioning, Cohen said that Trump would regularly deflate the value of his assets for tax purposes, and inflate their value for insurance purposes.</p><p>"Do you think we need to review his financial statements and his tax returns in order to compare them?" Ocasio-Cortez asked.</p><p>"Yes, and you'd find it at the Trump Org," Cohen said, referring to the Trump Organization.</p><p>Ocasio-Cortez next brought up <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-much-does-trump-claim-his-golf-courses-are-worth-it-depends-who-needs-to-know/2016/08/21/71828f3a-5f3c-11e6-9d2f-b1a3564181a1_story.html?utm_term=.257be3cd5751">an August 2016 Washington Post report</a> that laid out evidence Trump dramatically undervalued his Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, in statements to tax officials. Trump publicly boasted that the club was worth $50 million, but his attorney repeatedly told a court that the same club was worth "no more than $5 million," The Post reported.</p><p>"Mr. Cohen, do you know whether this specific report is accurate?" Ocasio-Cortez asked.</p><p>"It's identical to what he did at Trump National Golf Club at Briarcliff Manor," Cohen replied.</p><p>Cohen went on to say that Trump and his lawyers would "deflate the value of the asset and then ... put in a request to the tax department for a deduction" in order to reduce the president's tax bills.</p><p>In response to more of Ocasio-Cortez's questions, Cohen said he didn't have personal knowledge of Trump's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html">alleged scheme to undervalue real estate</a> that he inherited from his parents by hundreds of millions of dollars in order to pay fewer taxes. But he repeatedly told lawmakers that the Trump Organization's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, would have the answer to many of their questions.</p><p>Pressley followed Ocasio-Cortez in questioning Cohen, and focused specifically on the president's alleged improper use of his charitable foundation. Through Pressley's questioning, Cohen elaborated on <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/636-michael-cohens-congressional-t/3a1530b333230e775df5/optimized/full.pdf#page=1">his claim</a> that Trump use $60,000 from his foundation to pay for a "straw bidder" to purchase a portrait of Trump at an auction.</p><p>Cohen told Pressley Trump's portrait scheme was "all about ego."</p><p>Tlaib was given her five minutes of questioning time next and spent most of it delivering remarks on how she and her Michigan constituents "don't need a collusion cause with a foreign government to know this president, individual one, has disregarded the law of the land."</p><p>She ended by echoing some of her other colleagues who earlier criticized GOP Rep. Mark Meadows for using Lynne Patton, an African American Trump administration official who is close to the president, to make the case the president isn't racist.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-hearing-tlaib-meadows-cummings-exchange-over-racism-and-trump-2019-2">Tlaib went further than her colleagues</a>, and suggested that Meadows' use of Patton was racist in and of itself. Tlaib's comments sparked a heated back-and-forth between her and Meadows, forcing committee Chairman Elijah Cummings to intervene.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li><strong>Read more:</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-trump-testimony-congress-house-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Michael Cohen is expected to drop several bombshells about Trump in blockbuster congressional testimony</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-opening-statement-testimony-congress-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">'I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is': Michael Cohen's bombshell opening statement before the House Oversight Committee drops hours before he is scheduled to testify</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-testimony-claims-trump-asked-him-to-make-500-threats-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Michael Cohen testified that Trump asked him to make 500 threats, including against 'nasty reporters'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-hosts-say-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-wants-to-get-rid-of-kids-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Fox News hosts accuse Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of 'admitting to civilizational suicide' after the congresswomen asks if it's 'okay to still have children' with the threat of climate change</a></li></ul><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-15-presidents-historians-survey-abraham-lincoln-george-washington-lyndon-johnson-barack-obama-ronald-reagan-2017-2">The top 15 presidents according to historians</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley cornered Michael Cohen with questions about Trump's taxes and foundation that could spell more trouble for the president

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Freshman Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib had an emotional exchange with GOP Rep. Mark Meadows on racism during Michael Cohen's testimony before Congress on Wednesday.&#xa0;</li><li>House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings helped resolve the dispute after Meadows accused Tlaib of calling him racist.</li><li>Tlaib, among other Democrats, took issue with Meadows inviting a black Trump administration employee to the hearing to demonstrate that President Donald Trump is not racist.&#xa0;</li><li>Earlier in the day, Cohen said Trump is a "racist" who once told him black people were <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-trump-racist-country-shithole-2019-2">"too stupid"</a> to vote for him.&#xa0;</li><li>Follow along with<span>&#xa0;</span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-trump-testimony-congress-house-2019-2">all the updates from Cohen's testimony here.</a></li></ul><p>A freshman Democratic lawmaker, a veteran Democrat, and a close GOP ally of President Donald Trump had an emotional exchange on racism and the president during Michael Cohen's dramatic testimony before Congress on Wednesday.&#xa0;</p><p>Toward the end of the House Oversight Committee hearing, freshman Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-testimony-brenda-lawrence-mark-meadows-trump-racism-argument-2019-2">echoed some of her other colleagues who'd criticized Meadows</a> for bringing a black Trump administration employee - Lynne Patton - to the proceedings to make the case the president isn't racist.&#xa0;</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-doesnt-deny-calling-african-countries-shitholes-2018-4"><span>&#xa0;</span>Trump doesn't deny calling African countries 'shitholes' while meeting with Nigeria's president</a></em></p><p>Tlaib said, "Just because someone has a person of color, a black person, working for them does not mean they aren't racist and ... the fact someone would actually use a prop, a black woman in this chamber, in this committee, is alone racist in itself."</p><p>Meadows, the ranking member, was aghast at Tlaib's comments and took them to mean she was calling him racist.&#xa0;</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>A brief shouting match ensued between Meadows and House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings of Maryland.&#xa0;</p><p>Cummings asserted his authority, firmly stating, "Mr. Meadows. I'm the chair!"</p><p>After being pressed by Cummings on what she meant, Tlaib eventually clarified her remarks on Meadows' decision to bring Patton to the hearing, stating, <span>"As a person of color in this committee, that's how I felt at that moment and I wanted to express that. I am not calling the gentleman, Mr. </span>Meadows<span>, a racist, for doing so, I'm saying that, in itself, it is a racist act."</span></p><p>Meadows then noted he has nieces and nephews who are "people of color," adding, "not many people know that."</p><p>The Republican lawmaker from North Carolina went on to say, <span>"To indicate that I asked someone who is a personal friend of the Trump family … that's she's coming in to be a prop, it's racist to suggest that I asked her to come in for that reason."</span></p><p><span>In response, Cummings said, "If there's anyone who is sensitive with regard to race, it's me. </span><span>A son of former sharecroppers that were basically slaves. So I get it."</span></p><p><span>Cummings then said that he listened to Tlaib "very carefully" and concluded that she was not calling Meadows a racist. He also said that Meadows is one of his "best friends" on the committee, adding that this fact likely "shocks a lot of people."&#xa0;</span></p><p>Tlaib apologized to Meadows once again and he thanked her, which seemingly resolved the tense situation.&#xa0;</p><p>It was perhaps the most heated moment in a day full of remarks on racism and the president's rhetoric with regards to race.&#xa0;</p><p>Earlier in the day, Cohen said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-trump-racist-country-shithole-2019-2">Trump is a "racist"</a> who once told him black people were "too stupid" to vote for him.</p><p>Trump has long faced accusations of racism, particularly for perpetuating a conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama was not born in the US, but in Kenya. In 2012, Meadows seemed to <a href="https://twitter.com/stevemorris__/status/1100881913756176386">endorse that conspiracy theory</a> at a campaign stop when he said, "2012 is the time we are going to send Mr. Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is."</p><div><h2>Read more about Cohen's testimony:</h2></div><div><ul class="read-more-links"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-to-testify-that-trump-knew-about-wikileaks-document-dump-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Michael Cohen will testify that Trump knew Roger Stone was in touch with WikiLeaks during the election</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-opening-statement-testimony-congress-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">'I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is': Michael Cohen's bombshell opening statement before the House Oversight Committee drops hours before he is scheduled to testify</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-the-4-documents-he-gave-the-house-oversight-committee-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Here are the 4 documents Michael Cohen says he gave to the House Oversight Committee that could be problematic for Trump</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-alleges-payments-from-trump-while-he-was-president-2019-2" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Michael Cohen details hush-money payments in bombshell opening statement: 'Lying to the First Lady is one of my biggest regrets'</a></li></ul></div><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-15-presidents-historians-survey-abraham-lincoln-george-washington-lyndon-johnson-barack-obama-ronald-reagan-2017-2">The top 15 presidents according to historians</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Tlaib, Meadows, and Cummings have emotional exchange on racism and Trump late in Cohen hearing

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Mark Wilson/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday said Omarosa Manigault's new memoir is "riddled with lies."</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Omarosa Manigault-Newman claimed she heard Donald Trump saying the N-word "multiple times" in a three-minute recording.</strong></li><li><strong>She added that the remarks were made in reference to Kwame Jackson, an African American contestant on NBC's show, "The Apprentice."</strong></li><li><strong>Trump and another official fired back at her claims and called the alleged slurs "disgusting."</strong></li><li><strong>Manigault-Newman did not identify the person who allegedly played the recording for her, but at least three longtime Trump aides told The Huffington Post that she told them that it was Troy McClain, a former "Apprentice" contestant.</strong></li><li><strong>McClain laughed at the notion that he played the recording for Manigault-Newman, according to HuffPost: "You've got to be bullsh---ng me. Is this a joke?"</strong></li><li><strong>The man who Manigault-Newman alleged was in possession of the tape denied ever having had the tape, according to a Trump official who claimed to have spoken to the man.</strong></li></ul><p>President Donald Trump and another official slapped away Omarosa Manigault-Newman's claims that she heard him say the N-word as a private citizen during the filming of the NBC reality show, "The Apprentice."</p><p>The re-emerged in recent days, amid the release of her tell-all book, "Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the White House."</p><p>"[MGM chairman Mark Burnett] called to say that there are NO TAPES of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa," Trump said on Twitter. "I don't have that word in my vocabulary, and never have. She made it up."</p><p>"Look at her MANY recent quotes saying such wonderful and powerful things about me - a true Champion of Civil Rights - until she got fired," Trump added. "Omarosa had Zero credibility with the Media (they didn't want interviews) when she worked in the White House. Now that she says bad about me, they will talk to her."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Carlo Allegri/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Donald Trump and Omarosa Manigault-Newman, September 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Manigault-Newman, the former communications director for the White House Office of Public Liaison, claimed she heard Trump saying racially derogatory remarks, specifically the N-word, "multiple times" in a three-minute recording.</p><p>She added that the remarks were made in reference to Kwame Jackson, an African American contestant on the show.</p><p>"It sounded as if [Trump] used [the N-word] everyday," Manigault-Newman said on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" on Monday night. "It rolled off his mouth ... you'd never imagine he'd talk that way."</p><p>Upon hearing the allegations, Manigault-Newman said she was shocked and brushed them off prior to hearing the tape for herself.</p><p>"My first reaction to it was 'this can't be true,'" she said. "My first instinct was to protect [Trump], and not to dive deeper, because I dismissed it as untrue."</p><p>"It's amazing that for two years these folks have been reaching out to me, and I guess I was in denial," Manigault-Newman added. "I certainly didn't want to engage with people who I thought was trying to bring Trump down."</p><p>Manigault-Newman did not identify the source who allegedly played the tape for her, but at least three longtime Trump aides told <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/omarosa-white-house-apprentice-racial-slur-tape_us_5b721cece4b0bdd0620c2b34" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Huffington Post</a> that she told them it was Troy McClain, a former "Apprentice" contestant.</p><p>McClain admitted he met with Manigault-Newman at the White House in December; however, he laughed at the notion that he played the tape for her, according to HuffPost: "You've got to be bullsh---ng me. Is this a joke," he reportedly said.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XSQrBsJV5I">Fox Business/YouTube</a></span></p><p class="caption">Former "Apprentice" contestant Kwame Jackson on Fox News Business.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Manigault-Newman also noted in the MSNBC interview that Bill Pruitt, a producer on the show who previously teased that "there are far worse" incriminating tapes, was in possession of the tapes that contain the alleged remarks.</p><p>However, Pruitt denied he was in possession of the tapes, HuffPost reported. He also denied having ever possessed the tape, according to a <a href="https://twitter.com/dmartosko/status/1029204070375088128" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> by Lynne Patton, a regional director at the Department of Housing and Urban Development who spoke with him on Monday.</p><p>"Based upon her conflicting accounts and the newfound information ... it should be abundantly clear to everyone that not only is her book a complete work of fiction, but that the existence of this elusive 'N-word' tape is a figment of her imagination and merely a destructive took of manipulation applied on when it best serves her interests," Patton said in her statement.</p><p>Manigault-Newman did note that her source for the tape was "terrified" to come forward, and teased they could be holding onto to it for "politically motivated" reasons ahead of the midterm elections.</p><p>The former official launched a media frenzy amid the release of her book that paints the Trump administration in an unflattering light. On Sunday, she <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-ex-trump-aide-omarosa-releases-recording-of-white-house-firing-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> an audio recording between her and White House chief of staff John Kelly inside the Situation Room, sparking security concerns for officials who are bound by an honor-code not to bring recording devices aboard the secure facility.</p><p>"But I will say this to you, I was complicit with this White House deceiving this nation," she said on NBC's "<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/omarosa-claims-she-heard-trump-n-word-tape-after-book-n899971" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meet the Press</a>" on Sunday.</p><p>"They continue to deceive this nation by how mentally declined he is," Manigault-Newman added, "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."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/make-america-great-again-hat-christl-mahfouz-ace-specialties-trump-campaign-merchandise-2018-7">Meet the woman behind Trump's $20 million merch empire</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

'She made it up': Trump and his aides go nuclear after Omarosa claims to have heard him say the N-word on tape

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Omarosa Manigault Newman, Donald Trump, and Michael Cohen.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Fired White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman is the latest member of President Donald Trump's orbit to have secretly recorded him and his allies.</strong></li><li><strong>Last month, it was revealed that Trump's former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen had secretly recorded the president in September 2016, as well as others on more than 100 audio recordings seized by the government in April raids on his properties.</strong></li><li><strong>Multiple outlets reported that other aides are concerned about who else is possibly recording the president or their colleagues.</strong></li></ul><p>Within a month, it was revealed that two prominent members of President Donald Trump's orbit secretly recorded conversations with him and others.</p><p>It raises the question of just how commonplace the practice is of secretly recording conversations with the president and his allies.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-trump-lawyers-allowed-investigators-to-get-michael-cohen-tapes-2018-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The first secret recordings</a> belonged to the president's former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen, who is currently under criminal investigation in the Southern District of New York. Included in the more than 4 million documents seized by the FBI in April raids on Cohen's home, office, and hotel room were more than 100 audio recordings that Cohen made.</p><p>Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, released one audio recording to CNN recently. That tape contained a September 2016 conversation between Cohen and Trump in which <span>the two men discuss buying the rights to the story of a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who says she had an affair with Trump years ago. Trump was said to be unaware he was being recorded.</span></p><p><span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-cohen-tapes-no-more-for-now-2018-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meanwhile</a>, a person close to the Trump legal team who heard the remaining 11 Cohen tapes told Business Insider last month that they contain conversations between Cohen and third parties about Trump, not direct discussions between Trump and Cohen.</span></p><p>The second set of secret recordings were released by Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison and "The Apprentice" contestant who is on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Unhinged-Insiders-Account-Trump-White/dp/198210970X" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a publicity tour for her tell-all book about working in Trump's White House</a>.</p><p>She released a trio of secret audio recordings from her time working for Trump. One was of chief of staff John Kelly, which was made by Manigault Newman in the White House Situation Room while he was firing her last year. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/omarosa-manigault-newman-reveals-recording-she-made-president-trump-day-n900066" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Another was of her conversation with Trump</a> that immediately followed her firing.</p><p><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-audio-omarosa-trump-campaign-aides-apparently-discussing-fallout-of-n-word/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A third recording was of a conversation</a> between her and Lynn Patton, then-assistant to Eric Trump, and then-campaign officials Jason Miller and Katrina Pierson, in which they discussed an alleged tape of the president saying the N-word.</p><p>Manigault Newman has claimed that she heard this tape after the book was published. Patton and Pierson have said the story was not true and that, to their knowledge, no such tape exists. Trump has vehemently denied using the word, and has called Manigault Newman a "dog" and "deranged."</p><h2>Who else is making tapes?</h2><p>The latest releases have led to Trump aides wondering if other staffers have similar tapes. Several senior aides <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/13/politics/omarosa-white-house-paranoia/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told CNN</a> on Monday that they doubted Manigault Newman was the only White House staffer making such recordings. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/everyone-signed-one-trump-is-aggressive-in-his-use-of-nondisclosure-agreements-even-in-government/2018/08/13/9d0315ba-9f15-11e8-93e3-24d1703d2a7a_story.html?utm_term=.358f8984073c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">And The Post reported</a> that Trump administration officials have long suspected that their colleagues recorded conversations with the president and one another to use for personal gain.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Trump.</p></div><p></p></div></div>But a former administration official who discussed the matter with Business Insider said they were "confident" that other Trump staffers were not acting like Manigault Newman and "maliciously recording private conversations in the White House."</p><p>And Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, denied to Business Insider that the president's legal team is worried that any other staffers aside from Cohen and Manigault Newman made such recordings. He also denied that there is an active effort by the president's legal team to find out whether other staffers have made similar recordings.</p><p>Both of the most recent instances followed up a May revelation <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/17/us/politics/white-house-leaks.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by The New York Times</a> that a junior White House aide was found to be taping his meetings with Trump <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-aide-taped-meetings-with-trump-leaks-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">so he could later</a> play them to impress friends.</p><h2>Trump is no stranger to secret recordings</h2><p>Of course, Trump himself was notorious for making such recordings during his lengthy career as a businessman.</p><p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-employees-of-donald-trump-say-they-saw-him-tape-conversations-1494715712" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Last year</a>, after Trump threatened to release tapes of his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey - which he later said he did not make - three people with direct knowledge of the recordings <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-employees-of-donald-trump-say-they-saw-him-tape-conversations-1494715712" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Wall Street Journal</a> that Trump sometimes taped phone calls from his Trump Tower office.</p><p>Somewhat ironically, it was Cohen who provided an on-the-record response seeking to refute The Journal's 2017 report.</p><p>"In the decade that I worked for Mr. Trump, I have never seen a recording device attached to his phone, nor am I aware of any occasion where he taped a conversation," he told The Journal.</p><p>John O'Donnell, who was president of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in the 1980s and author of "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Trumped-Inside-Trump-His-Cunning-Spectacular/dp/067173735X" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trumped!: The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump</a>," told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-has-a-long-history-of-secretly-recording-calls-according-to-former-associates/2017/05/12/b302b038-372d-11e7-b412-62beef8121f7_story.html?utm_term=.d70f3397f90d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Post last year</a> there "was never any sense with Donald of the phone being used for private conversation."</p><p>"Talking on the phone with Donald was a public experience," he added. "You never knew who else was listening."</p><h2>Why Cohen and Omarosa felt the need to record Trump and his allies</h2><p>The existence of both Cohen's and Manigault Newman's recordings showed that for some close to Trump, there was a need to have both him and his associates recorded for some sort of future use or leverage, though why both of them felt the need for such leverage is still unclear.</p><p>Mitchell Epner, a former assistant US attorney for the District of New Jersey and an attorney at Rottenberg Lipman Rich, told Business Insider that the fact Cohen and Manigault Newman recorded conversations with Trump "provides strong evidence of a spirit of distrust that Donald Trump would accurately recount and/or recall the contents of their conversations - whether through failure of memory or purposeful deceit."</p><p>Of Manigault Newman's tapes, CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said, "it's better to view this whole drama as an insight into the character of the people involved in the nature of the White House rather than a legal issue."</p><p>Liberal Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/omarosa-exposes-the-white-house-but-can-we-trust-her/2018/08/13/ac93fba0-9f30-11e8-83d2-70203b8d7b44_story.html?utm_term=.7b9118d7c071" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on Monday summed up why</a> Cohen and Manigault Newman felt the need to make those secret recordings.</p><p>He wrote: "What we do know is why people in Trump's orbit feel they need such insurance: Dishonor and disloyalty start at the top."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/make-america-great-again-hat-christl-mahfouz-ace-specialties-trump-campaign-merchandise-2018-7">Meet the woman behind Trump's $20 million merch empire</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Omarosa and Michael Cohen made secret recordings of Trump - and fellow officials are reportedly wondering if anyone else did too

<p><div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image"><p class="source on-image"><a href="http://acrossthefader.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/bigmac.jpg">acrossthefader.org</a></p></div></div><keyword id="6378093" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="McDonalds">McDonald's</keyword> Dollar Menu could soon get more expensive. </p>
<p><span>Food inflation means that making money from $1 burgers is impossible, <span>reports </span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-04/mcdonald-s-may-revamp-dollar-menu-after-pressure.html">Leslie Patton at Bloomberg News</a><span>. </span></span></p>
<p>The <keyword id="41941" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fast-food">fast food</keyword> chain is testing new value menus that include items with price points of $1.79 and $2, Patton writes.</p>
<p class="p1">McDonald's needs to start charging $1.50 or $2 for Dollar Menu items<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, Peter Saleh, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, </span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-04/mcdonald-s-may-revamp-dollar-menu-after-pressure.html">told Bloomberg</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">. </span></p>
<p><span>Beef prices following a drought last year have put pressure on McDonald's earnings, according to Bloomberg. </span></p>
<p>McDonald's will have to tread carefully to keep price-conscious customers coming back. </p>
<p>The Big Mac (at an average price of $3.57) is too expensive for many Americans. Instead, McDonald's is promoting its $1 cheeseburger, fries, drinks and wraps, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-emphasizing-dollar-menu-2013-4">according to the Wall Street Journal</a>.</p>
<p><span>"Value is critical right now," Lynne Collier, restaurant analyst at Sterne Agee, told WSJ. "The consumer is still very weak, facing higher gas prices, the payroll tax increase and employment barely inching up. Value is the No. 1 driver of traffic, and all these restaurant companies are dying for traffic."</span><span><br /></span></p>

McDonald's May Be Forced To Abandon The $1 Burger

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Rick Wilking</span></p><p class="caption">Workers assemble part of the convention stage inside the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Donald Trump released the speaking list for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on Thursday morning, and one major figure was noticeably missing.</p><p><span>T</span>he list omitted Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a potential running mate who met with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee privately on Wednesday, heightening speculation he could be selected as Trump's choice for vice president.</p><p>Other potential picks like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are both included on the list of speakers.</p><p>The list included lawmakers, prominent military veterans, four of Trump's children, and figures from the business community like tech billionaire Peter Thiel.</p><p>While many Republican members of congress and longtime part operatives chose to skip this year's convention due to the polarizing nature of the Trump campaign, many top Republican part officials will still be there.</p><p>House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are both slated to speak, as are other high-profile figures like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Ted Cruz.</p><p>Though Trump hasn't released the speaking order, the New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/14/us/politics/republican-convention-speakers-donald-trump.html?_r=0">reported</a> Wednesday evening that Trump plans to organize the nights by themes, including a night dedicated to the economy and one dedicated to the attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. </p><h2>Here's the list of people speaking at the convention:</h2><ul><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Pastor Mark Burns </span></li><li>Phil Ruffin </li><li>Rep. Ryan Zinke </li><li>Pat Smith </li><li>Mark Geist </li><li>John Tiegen </li><li>Rep. Michael McCaul </li><li>Sheriff David Clarke </li><li>Rep. Sean Duffy </li><li>Darryl Glenn </li><li>Sen. Tom Cotton </li><li>Karen Vaughn</li><li>Gov. Mike Huckabee</li><li>Mayor Rudy Giuliani</li><li>Melania Trump</li><li>Sen. Joni Ernst</li><li>Kathryn Gates-Skipper</li><li>Marcus Luttrell</li><li>Dana White</li><li>Gov. Asa Hutchinson</li><li>Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge</li><li>Michael Mukasey</li><li>Andy Wist</li><li>Sen. Jeff Sessions</li><li>Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn</li><li>Alex Smith</li><li>House Speaker Paul Ryan</li><li>Rep. Kevin McCarthy</li><li>Kerry Woolard</li><li>Sen. Shelley Moore Capito</li><li>Dr. Ben Carson</li><li>Co-Chair Sharon Day</li><li>Natalie Gulbis</li><li>Kimberlin Brown</li><li>Antonio Sabato, Jr.</li><li>Peter Thiel</li><li>Eileen Collins</li><li>Sen. Ted Cruz</li><li>Newt Gingrich</li><li>Michelle Van Etten</li><li>Lynne Patton</li><li>Eric Trump</li><li>Harold Hamm</li><li>Congressman Chris Collins</li><li>Brock Mealer</li><li>Rep. Marsha Blackburn</li><li>Gov. Mary Fallin</li><li>Darrell Scott</li><li>Lisa Shin</li><li>Gov. Rick Scott</li><li>RNC Chairman Reince Priebus</li><li>Tom Barrack</li><li>Ivanka Trump</li><li>Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi</li><li>Jerry Falwell Jr.</li><li>Rabbi Haskel Lookstein</li><li>Chris Cox</li><li>Sen. Mitch McConnell</li><li>Tiffany Trump</li><li>Gov. Chris Christie</li><li>Donald J. Trump Jr.</li><li>Gov. Scott Walker</li></ul>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/lieutenant-general-michael-flynn-cant-say-if-democrat-republican-donald-trump-2016-7">Watch possible Trump VP refuse to answer whether he's a Democrat</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="B4aWZvNDE6b0ongiWHDJ6tsGeOh2bQOD" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Donald Trump releases speakers list for GOP convention - and one person is noticeably missing

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>President Donald Trump knew what he was getting with Omarosa Manigault-Newman.</strong></li><li><strong>When Trump's hires don't work out the way he'd hoped, he has a way of complaining about them as though they were something that just happened to him.</strong></li><li><strong>Omarosa was hired during when Trump still held the clear view that bitter staff disputes were just part of a healthy workplace.</strong></li></ul><p>At campaign rallies, President Trump is fond of reciting the lyrics to "The Snake."</p><p>It's a 1968 song by African-American soul singer Al Wilson, about a woman who rescues a frozen snake from the street. She takes the snake home, warms it up, gives it honey - and in return for her trouble, the snake bites and kills her.</p><p>Trump, as is his style, has turned the song into a racist parable that warns against trusting entire ethnicities of people - in his telling, Syrian refugees are the snake. This is not what the song is supposed to mean.</p><p>But "The Snake" does contain quite good advice if you apply it to <em>individual persons</em> with well-earned reputations for deceit and backstabbing: Do not invite them into your home.</p><p>This brings me to Omarosa.</p><h2><strong>He knew damn well she was a snake before he took her in</strong></h2><p>On Twitter on Monday, President Trump laid out why Omarosa was an obviously terrible hire for his administration:</p><p>When Trump's hires don't work out the way he'd hoped, he has a way of complaining about them as though they were something that just happened to him. Jeff Sessions. Rod Rosenstein. "Sloppy Steve" Bannon. He's outraged, he's surrounded by morons and disloyal losers, none of this is his fault, even though he hired these people.</p><p>This is bizarre in general. But it's hilariously bizarre in the case of Omarosa Manigault-Newman, whom he called a "lowlife" to reporters on Saturday (and again on Twitter on Monday).</p><p>Donald Trump <em>created</em> Omarosa. He made her the supervillain she is today. <em>He</em>&#xa0;is the person who fired her three times on national television.</p><p>Sure, she's a lowlife. You can't trust her. I'll stipulate to that. So why the hell did Donald Trump hire her to work in the White House?</p><p>Is it because they needed a prominent black voice in the Executive Office of the President and she's his only black friend who isn't Don King?</p><h2>Actually, that's not it</h2><p>Trump's own tweets give one reason he hired and retained Omarosa in her job at the White House Office of Public Liaison: She flattered him.&#xa0;</p><p>Omarosa's approach of managing up through flattery has worked even for administration officials failing in much more consequential positions: Scott Pruitt retained his job running the Environmental Protection Agency for months, despite alienating virtually everyone in the administration with his scandal tornado, because he stroked Trump's ego.</p><p>But I think there are two additional reasons Trump kept Omarosa around, and those reasons provide clues about why he is constantly surrounded by dysfunction.</p><h2>Trump likes workplace infighting</h2><p>His instinct is that having his underlings fight each other allows the strong to rise to the top. In the first year of his administration, he fostered an atmosphere of infighting by creating three essentially co-equal West Wing leaders who wished to pursue wildly divergent agendas and also hated each other's guts&#xa0;- Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon, and Jared Kushner.</p><p>Eventually, he seems to have realized this was not working out, in part because his staff was spending more time leaking against each other to the press than working. But you have to remember, Omarosa was hired during this period, when Trump still held the clear view that bitter staff disputes were just part of a healthy workplace.</p><p>Who better to provoke bitter staff disputes than Omarosa? She is literally the best at it.</p><h2>Trump likes bad people</h2><p>The other thing to keep in mind about Trump and Omarosa is that the president's complete lack of moral fiber causes him to admire personality traits that a normal person would view negatively.</p><p>Remember, this is a man who brags about being greedy. He praises autocrats who commit extrajudicial killings as "tough." He was close friends with Roy Cohn. Is a person anti-Semitic if he believes in offensive Jewish stereotypes but considers them to be compliments? <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-courts-jewish-republicans-with-offensive-stereotypes/">These are the sorts of questions the Trump presidency forces us to consider.</a></p><p>Trump can look at a conniving, untrustworthy backstabber and see what he likes about himself in that person, and smile - so long as that person is <em>his</em> untrustworthy backstabber.</p><p>But the problem with untrustworthy backstabbers is you can't trust them and they will stab you in the back.</p><p>The hilarious thing about Omarosa calling Trump a racist and Trump calling Omarosa a lowlife is they are both correct. No two people have ever deserved each other so thoroughly. But we did not deserve this.</p><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-explains-the-problem-with-healthcare-in-america-2018-7">Cigna's CEO says that the problem with healthcare in America has nothing to do with employers</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div></hr>

You Searched For "lynne patton" and got 12 results

Former Trump official Lynne Patton was penalized for violating the Hatch Act

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NYC public housing tenants say they aren't Trump supporters but were used in an RNC video to support his campaign

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Black Democratic lawmaker slams GOP colleague for trying to 'prop up one member of our race' to prove Trump isn't racist

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Trump has tapped his son's wedding planner to run federal housing programs in New York

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The Trump campaign is suing Omarosa for millions after her tell-all book and recordings set off a firestorm

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'She made it up': Trump and his aides go nuclear after Omarosa claims to have heard him say the N-word on tape

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Omarosa and Michael Cohen made secret recordings of Trump - and fellow officials are reportedly wondering if anyone else did too

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McDonald's May Be Forced To Abandon The $1 Burger

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Donald Trump releases speakers list for GOP convention - and one person is noticeably missing

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