Omarosa Manigault Newman, former White House adviser to President Donald Trump, released a secretly recorded tape Thursday in which Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, allegedly offered Newman hush money to refrain her from saying anything negative about the administration after she was fired in December 2017.
“All the money that we raise and that pays salaries is directly from donors, small-dollar donors for the most part,” Lara Trump said in the recording, which was released on MSNBC and made days after Manigault Newman was fired from the White House. “So I know you, you were making 179 at the White House, and I think we can work something out where we keep you right along those lines.” (RELATED: Trump, GOP Lands Epic Troll Of Omarosa — Using Her Own Words)
Manigault Newman claimed Trump was attempting to entice her to take on a role on his 2020 campaign.
Trump’s remarks made some small donors skeptical about how their campaign contributions are being used.
“It’s diverting donor money that could be used to wage the midterm election battle or store resources for Trump’s re-election,” Dan K. Eberhart, an Arizona donor, energy executive and adviser to the America First Policies that supports the Trump campaign, told The New York Times. “Instead, it’s an elongated hush payment.”
“They still want to win elections,” Eberhart said, convinced that it won’t stop small donors from contributing ahead of the 2018 midterms.
Brad Parscale, the president’s campaign manager for his reelection in 2020, defended Lara Thursday on Twitter, saying the recording proves nothing, and that Trump’s daughter-in-law was simply being transparent about where campaign funds are coming from.
Exactly!!! The Omarosa tape is a complete dud & shows that @LaraLeaTrump is a great, responsible fiduciary of the campaign’s donations.
Lara is an amazing & talented person and a huge asset to the @realDonaldTrump campaign! https://t.co/T83x7iPSnR
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) August 16, 2018
“Lara says the right thing protecting our donors and helping people understand we are powered by the people!” he said in his tweet.
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