Trump calls ex-'Apprentice' star turned White House aide a 'dog'

U.S. President Donald Trump

on Tuesday called former White House aide Omarosa Manigault

Newman a "dog" and his campaign took legal action against her as

the two former reality TV stars escalated their public feud.

The spat came as Manigault Newman, a former contestant on

Trump's " The Apprentice," publicly released more recordings from

her time in Trump's orbit as she promoted her tell-all book,

"Unhinged," describing her year at the White House. She was

fired in December.

In the book, she accused Trump of making derogatory

statements about African-Americans, Filipinos and other

minorities, as well as exhibiting "forgetfulness and

frustration."

"His mental decline could not be denied," wrote Manigault

Newman, who had been one of the Republican president's most

prominent black supporters.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

On Twitter on Tuesday, Trump wrote, "When you give a crazed,

crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I

guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for

quickly firing that dog!"

In recent days, Manigault Newman has released audio of her

firing by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and of a call

from Trump in which he says he did not know about her dismissal.

On Tuesday, CBS News released another recording it said was

unverified but appeared to be Manigault Newman and several Trump

campaign aides in October 2016 discussing the potential fallout

from a tape of Trump using a racial epithet during the taping of

"The Apprentice."

CBS News' parent company, CBS Corp, owns Simon and

Schuster Inc, which published her book. In it, Manigault Newman

describes the recorded conversation as being a conference call

held on Oct. 11, 2016.

Trump's campaign, which is gearing up for his 2020

re-election run, has filed an arbitration against Manigault

Newman for breaching her 2016 confidentiality agreement, a Trump

campaign official said on Tuesday.

Asked about the pact, she told MSNBC: "I don't believe that

I violated it," adding that she would leave that to lawyers to

sort out.

Trump on Monday denied the existence of any tape from "The

Apprentice" in which he used the racial epithet, citing the

show's former producer, Mark Burnett. Some of the aides on the

latest tape also denied the conversation.

Reuters could not verify any of the recordings, and

representatives for Burnett and his production company did not

immediately respond to requests for comment.

Critics condemned Trump's tweet for what they said were

racial and sexist undertones.

"The president of the United States is calling a woman of

color a dog? ... How dare he call anyone a dog?" Democratic U.S.

Representative Frederica Wilson, who is also an

African-American, told CNN.

U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, a frequent Trump critic, called the

president's language "unbecoming" and said fellow Republicans

"should not be okay with it."

Asked whether Trump's language was appropriate, White House

senior counselor Kellyanne Conway did not answer directly but

told Fox News she had never heard Trump "issue a racial slur

about anyone."

Trump brought on Manigault Newman, previously known for

repeatedly being fired on NBC's " The Apprentice," as director of

communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison.

Manigault Newman has dismissed any legal concerns about

taping conversations. On Monday, she told MSNBC that, if asked,

she would give her recordings to the U.S. Special Counsel's

Office investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016

presidential election and possible collusion by the Trump

campaign.

Russia has denied meddling in the election and Trump has

repeatedly called the probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller a

witch hunt. 

Reuters