Trump Disparaged His Son and Harriet Tubman, Omarosa Says in Book

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump used an obscenity to describe his own son, disparaged Harriet Tubman’s looks, and dubbed his education secretary “Ditzy DeVos,” according to former White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman.

In her new book, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House,” Manigault-Newman divulged a litany of private remarks she claims Trump made during the first year of his administration. Some are backed up with audio recordings.

“He is such a f**kup. He screwed up again, but this time he’s screwing us all, big-time,” Manigault-Newman quotes the president saying of his son, Donald Trump Jr., over revelations that he met with Russians at Trump Tower to get political dirt on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign.

Trump regularly mocked Education Secretary Betsy DeVos behind her back as “ditzy,” Manigault-Newman wrote.

The book also alleges that Trump denigrated the looks of Tubman, the former slave and widely revered abolitionist whom President Barack Obama planned to honor on the twenty-dollar bill.

“You want to put that face on the twenty-dollar bill?” Trump is quoted as saying.

Manigault-Newman wrote that she had provided the president with a briefing book describing how Tubman had helped free hundreds of other slaves. The briefing book, which included an image of Tubman, came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had declined to commit that the Trump administration would stick to Obama’s plan to replace Andrew Jackson with Tubman on the twenty-dollar bill.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday that Manigault-Newman had made up “outrageous claims” and “cares more about herself than this country.”

“This person has shown a complete lack of integrity, particularly by the actions following her time here at the White House,” she said. “She worked here for a year, and didn’t have any of these things to say--in fact everything she said was quite the opposite.”

Manigault-Newman has backed up some of her claims in the books with audio tapes. She has said that she is able to corroborate all of the quotes in the book. The White House has not disputed the authenticity of recordings she’s released so far.

“Every single thing in this book, I have verified and documented,” she said on MSNBC on Tuesday.

Manigault-Newman also claims that Trump considered being sworn into office with his book “The Art of The Deal” rather than a Bible, which by tradition previous presidents used for their inaugural oaths.

“It’s the greatest business book of all time,” Trump said, according to Manigault-Newman. “It’s how I’m going to make great deals for the country. Just think how many copies I’d sell--maybe a commemorative inauguration copy?”

Manigault-Newman writes that she convinced Trump not to pursue the idea, and to never mention it to anyone else. Trump later tried to convince her that he was kidding but she believes he was serious at the time, she wrote.

Throughout the book, Manigault-Newman accuses Trump of racism and sexism, while arguing that his mental capabilities have begun to deteriorate. She writes that Trump drinks eight cans of Diet Coke each day and spends his mornings laying in a tanning bed that has been installed at the White House.

The president has attacked Manigault-Newman in recent days after excerpts from her book were disclosed.

“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,” Trump said Tuesday in a tweet. “Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!”

Manigault-Newman -- the former director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison -- was fired last year by Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Trump’s campaign has accused Manigault-Newman of violating a non-disclosure agreement.

On MSNBC on Tuesday, Manigault-Newman said she was a whistle blower unveiling “corruption” within the Trump White House.

To contact the reporter on this story: Toluse Olorunnipa in Washington at tolorunnipa@bloomberg.net

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

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