Getty Images

‘Apprentice’ Star Omarosa Manigault Newman Endorses Kamala Harris for President: ‘Donald Trump Has Been Defeated Before’ (EXCLUSIVE)

14 Oct 2024, 17:51 by Daniel D'Addario · Variety

Omarosa Manigault Newman remains in the political arena.

The White House official — the director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison under Donald Trump for a time in 2017 as well as a staffer in the Clinton administration — rose to prominence as one of Trump’s favorite contestants on “The Apprentice.” After her time on the reality show’s 2004 first season, she returned for two different installments of “The Celebrity Apprentice.”

But in her 2018 memoir “Unhinged,” Manigault-Newman went after Trump with both barrels (she allegedly made a secret recording of chief of staff Jon Kelly firing her from the White House), describing the then-President as a racist and cognitively impaired. A lengthy lawsuit, in which the Trump presidential campaign alleged Manigault Newman had violated an NDA, was arbitrated in Manigault Newman’s favor in 2022.

Now, speaking to Variety, Manigault Newman — currently a law student at the Southern University Law Center — opens up about her thoughts on the 2024 campaign, on Trump’s treatment of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, and, for the first time, offers her endorsement in this year’s presidential election.

In your memoir, you described watching Donald Trump undergo cognitive changes during his Presidency. Watching the campaign from afar, do you think he’s continuing to lose a step?

Absolutely. Anyone observing Donald Trump and even taking a moment to compare from 2016 to now — what becomes apparent with what’s happening with Donald is that he has limited vocabulary. He rambles, and he tends to pull things out of nowhere.

And yet it appears he remains Teflon, at least to some number of core voters who seem impervious to breaking from him. What is your theory about his ardent fans?

I wouldn’t call losing an election Teflon. Joe Biden is the President. Donald Trump has been defeated before, and I think what’s grating on his nerves the most is that this [next] defeat may come at the hands of a woman of color. He reserves his most vitriolic attacks for women of color. To lose to a woman of color would be devastating to his ego.

What did you make of his calling Kamala Harris’ racial identity into question?

I thought it was beyond the pale — particularly since Donald has, in the past, not been honest and straightforward about his lineage. He was ashamed of his German heritage, and so he made up a story in “The Art of the Deal” that his family was from Sweden.

A phenomenon you described in your book was the sense of guardrails keeping Trump, in his time as president, from acting on his worst impulses. In a hypothetical second term, it certainly appears he’d be less held back by the John Kellys of the world. Do you have any insight into that?

That is absolutely the case. One of the reasons that Mike Pence was selected [as Trump’s 2016 running mate] is that there was a belief that Pence would be a calming factor. I remember a lot of the discussion was that the establishment would be able to get Donald Trump in line, have him embrace the theology of conservatives. Instead, Donald Trump hijacked the party and pushed out individuals who would be able to modulate his behavior. He has made it explicit that if he wins again, he would empower the most extreme individuals in his circle.

On a more personal note, his legal team went after you fiercely over the course of years, claiming you violated an NDA. Even as a court arbitrator awarded you $1.3 million in legal fees in 2022, do you fear reprisal from Trump should he become president once more?

We’ve defeated him in court before. We would do it again. I’m not intimidated by him. Donald Trump sued me when he was sitting in the Oval Office — I don’t think it gets worse than that, right? And we came out on top. He has made it clear he would get revenge on any of the individuals who oppose his MAGA theology. But I’m not intimidated any longer by Donald Trump. At the time, it was very intimidating because he was one of the most powerful individuals in the world. Now that we’ve taken them on and won, I don’t fear that. And now that people see the pattern, we can push back against it more fiercely than before.

Before “The Apprentice,” you worked in a Democratic administration; after, you worked in a Republican administration. In a general sense, do you miss working in the political arena?

It’s time for a younger generation. Politics is a young woman’s game. I hope that Kamala Harris will usher in a new generation of young political leaders. When she wins — if she wins — I hope she’ll usher in fresh energy. Young women should have an opportunity to serve at the highest levels of government. I had a chance to do it twice, which I think is more than enough in anybody’s lifetime. I went into the White House in my 20s — that was when I started with [Al] Gore, and I ended up working in Presidential personnel with Bill Clinton, and then to be able to return back with Donald — I think 20-plus years in Washington is sufficient.

Now, I am still involved in politics. I do political commentary for Sky News, and I’ll be anchoring their desk for election night from Washington. You see me contributing to the political conversation. I will always have that position. I will always make sure that I am contributing to the dialogue. But it’s time for fresh blood, and I’m excited for the future of this country.

You’re living in Baton Rouge as a law student, pursuing your J.D. —

J.D.-M.B.A.!

Wow. Is the goal to practice law?

I’m definitely going to be a trial attorney on the plaintiff’s side. I want to make sure that I’m being impactful on a social justice standpoint. I did it during COVID — I took the LSAT and got accepted into all of my dream schools. I’ve done my last three semesters in person, which has been fantastic. So absolutely, I’ll practice. You will see me in huge mass torts cases. I want to be one of the most effective trial attorneys in the country.

Are you still in touch with your colleagues from the Trump White House, and, when you speak privately, are they as scandalized as you are?

Give me clarification about what you mean by “scandalized as I am.”

Your book and everything you’re saying indicate that you view Trump in a very negative light. And I’m wondering, if you speak to anyone from that time in your professional life, if they share your negative impression about how he governed and how he might govern again.

Let me put this in context for you. I got to Washington in 1996, so the relationships I cultivated in Washington didn’t start or stop with Donald Trump. Those relationships are strong bonds that I maintain, and so in every administration — Bush, Clinton, Obama, Trump, soon to be Harris, I have strong relationships in all of them. My sources, my network, and my connections allow me to have insight into the inner workings of campaigns and apparatuses and organizations that most people wouldn’t have. Do I stay in touch? It’s not about staying in touch. If you want to survive in Washington, you are only as strong as your connections.

Given these connections, I suppose it carries weight that, in this conversation, you seem optimistic about the potential that Kamala Harris could win.

For me, on a very personal level, it is a significant milestone, and would be a tremendous, seismic movement for little girls and little Black boys. This is important. This is major. I’ll be in Washington on the anchor desk, and prayerfully we’ll see history made. But to get this close is still so significant. I believe the nation will choose the leader they need at this time, and I believe that that leader is Vice President Kamala Harris.

As a kind of closing thought, given the time you spent close to Trump, I wonder if you’ve ever felt there was a loss of potential. He clearly has been a great communicator and connected with people, but put that connection toward an unusually negative sort of politics.

I was very reflective about that when I was writing “Unhinged,” about how Donald Trump squandered the greatest opportunity he had in his life to be a consequential leader, to shape the direction of our nation and bend it toward something positive. He opted to go to the dark side. That’s why I have no reservation in — I guess I’m saying this for the first time — completely, 100 percent endorsing Kamala Harris for President.