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Omarosa `Uncomfortable' With Trump's Handling of Race Issues

Omarosa Was `Uncomfortable' With Trump's Handling of Race Issues

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s most prominent African-American aide, Omarosa Manigault Newman, said in a television interview that she had grown uncomfortable with his handling of racial issues prior to her resignation on Tuesday.

“As the only African American woman in this White House, as a senior staff and assistant to the president I have seen things that have made me uncomfortable, that have upset me, that have affected me deeply and emotionally, that have affected my community,” she said Thursday in an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America.

Manigault Newman made the remarks in response to a question about how Trump has dealt with issues around race, including his remarks in August that “both sides” shared blame for violent, racially-charged protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. He’s also faced pressure to more strongly condemn white supremacists who support him.

She said she wouldn’t provide further details until she has officially left the White House; her resignation is effective Jan. 20.

Manigault Newman, who gained renown as a villain on Trump’s first season of "The Apprentice" had been director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison, which leads outreach to interest groups. She was a frequent presence at White House social events, but her precise duties were unclear, even to many of her colleagues.

She resigned after a "very candid" conversation in the situation room with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, where she told him she wanted to stay through the administration’s one-year mark and then "get back to my life." Manigault Newman was not escorted off the property and did not try to enter the White House residence as has been reported, she said, citing a Twitter post by the Secret Service on Wednesday.

"John Kelly and I had a very straightforward discussion about concerns I had, issues I raised and as a result I resigned," she said.

“There were a lot of things that I observed during the last year that I was very unhappy with, that I was very uncomfortable with, things that I observed, that I heard, that I listened to,” Manigault Newman said. “And when I can tell my story, it is a profound story that I know the world will want to hear.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in New York at spettypiece@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, Mike Dorning

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