Reality star Omarosa Manigault Newman unsurprisingly turned on Trump and threw her support behind Vice President Kamala Harris in the looming presidential election.
Manigault Newman, who rose to fame through several seasons alongside former President Donald Trump on NBC’s “The Apprentice,” and shortly held a position in his administration, knifed her former boss by endorsing Harris in an interview with Variety on Monday.
“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,” she told the outlet.
Manigault Newman hopes Harris will forge the way for a younger generation of politicians.
🚨🚨 BREAKING: Former Trump White House official Omarosa Manigault Newman endorsed VP Harris:
“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.” pic.twitter.com/Sx8DJk5mex
— Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) October 15, 2024
“When she wins — if she wins — I hope she’ll usher in fresh energy,” she remarked about Harris.
Manigault Newman reiterated claims about Trump’s cognitive decline—allegations she originally made in her 2018 book, Unhinged—insinuating he’s unfit for the presidency.
“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,” she remarked.
“He rambles, and he tends to pull things out of nowhere,” the former reality star noted.
She also criticized Trump’s treatment of Harris during the interview. “He reserves his most vitriolic attacks for women of color. To lose to a woman of color would be devastating to his ego,” the former NBC star added.
Commenting on Trump’s past questioning of Harris’ racial identity, she deemed it “beyond the pale,” and oddly added that Trump himself hasn’t been “honest and straightforward” about his ancestry.
Former Trump aide Omarosa Manigault Newman to @TheView: “I was in a toxic relationship with Donald Trump and I regret that I was so complicit. You know, Hillary Clinton was robbed, and I was … a co-conspirator in that robbery” https://t.co/iyOFUSMPnv pic.twitter.com/ueWbgbi7tR
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 10, 2018
Drawing on her experiences with Trump on both television and in the White House, she said that he “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,” prompting her to “completely, 100 percent” endorse Harris.
Despite potential backlash, Manigault Newman isn’t worried about repercussions if Trump returns to power.
“I’m not intimidated by him,” she stated. “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,” the former White House aide added.
Looking forward, Manigault Newman has a positive outlook about the nation’s direction.
“It’s time for a younger generation. Politics is a young woman’s game,” she claimed.
Manigault Newman noted that younger women “should have an opportunity to serve at the highest levels of government,” which she has had twice, once under former President Bill Clinton’s administration, and later with Trump’s.
“It’s time for fresh blood, and I’m excited for the future of this country,” she added. “I believe the nation will choose the leader they need at this time, and I believe that that leader is Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Manigault Newman’s rise to fame began as one of Trump’s favored contestants on “The Apprentice’s” inaugural season in 2004.
She later appeared on two versions of “The Celebrity Apprentice,” kicking off the the first and coming back for an all-star season.
Trump appointed her as his campaign director for African American outreach in 2016. In 2017, she was named assistant to the president and director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison.
However, her role ended in December of that year when John Kelly, then chief of staff, dismissed her.
Trump later admitted hiring her as a White House aide was merely an “experiment,” alleging she was fired because everyone “hated” her and she was always late, and abused the White House car service, according to New York Times bestseller, Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass.
“Her personality – she was late all the time. She wouldn’t show up,” Trump told author Ramin Setoodeh. “Look, I tried to rehabilitate her reputation as an experiment.”
“And when I did, I said, ‘This probably won’t work out but let’s see what happens,'” Trump continued. “And I also said… ‘When she gets fired, you always have to pay a price.” It’s too bad. In the White House, she didn’t cut the mustard.'”