Good morning, Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds—we’re all only human, after all.
But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.)
Oramosa Unveils New Tape, Trump Calls Her “Wacky” & “Vicious”
Former top White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman released a new audio tape that she says is a recording of a call from President Donald Trump to her after Chief of Staff John Kelly fired her, ABC News reports.
In the recording, which aired on NBC’s “Today” show Monday, a voice that Manigault Newman identified as Trump’s appears to be surprised and upset about her departure from the White House.
“Omarosa, what’s going on? I just saw in the news you’re thinking about leaving. What happened?” the voice asks in the recording.
“General Kelly – General Kelly came to me and said that you guys wanted me to leave,” Manigault Newman responds.
“No. Nobody even told me about it,” the voice continues. “You know, they run a big operation but I didn’t know it. I didn’t know that. God [expletive]. I don’t love you leaving at all.”
On Monday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley declined to “talk about what [Trump and Manigault Newman] talked about on the phone,” but said the “thought of doing something like that to a fellow employee, not to mention, the leader of the free world is completely disgraceful.”
“Her character and her integrity have been impugned beyond measure,” Gidley said in an interview with “Fox and Friends.”
Trump took to Twitter to criticize Manigault Newman, but also acknowledged that he had initially resisted Kelly’s attempts to fire her.
Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time. She never made it, never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, I said Ok. People in the White House hated her. She was vicious, but not smart. I would rarely see her but heard….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2018
…really bad things. Nasty to people & would constantly miss meetings & work. When Gen. Kelly came on board he told me she was a loser & nothing but problems. I told him to try working it out, if possible, because she only said GREAT things about me – until she got fired!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2018
Since serving as the White House Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison, Manigault Newman has unleashed her criticism of the president.
In an interview following the release of the audio recording, Manigault Newman called herself a whistleblower and warned her former White House colleagues “they should be concerned” about further information to come from her book.
“There’s a lot of very corrupt things happening in the White House, and I am going to blow the whistle on a lot of this,” Manigault Newman said.
Manigault Newman added that she didn’t know if the president was truly as shocked about her firing as he supposedly appeared to be in the recording, but said it should be alarming to Americans if Trump did not know that Kelly was dismissing a top member of the White House before notifying him first.
“As we heard on the recording you just played, he doesn’t even know what’s happening in the White House,” Manigault Newman said. “General Kelly, John Kelly is running the White House and Donald Trump has no clue what’s going on. He’s being puppeted. That’s very dangerous to this nation.”
Special Counsel Wraps Up Manafort Case
Prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team rested the government’s case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Monday, concluding nearly two weeks worth of testimony that Manafort had allegedly hid millions of dollars in offshore accounts and failed to pay taxes on that money.
Manafort faces up to life in prison if he is convicted on 18 counts of financial charges, including money laundering and tax fraud. Manafort has plead not guilty to the charges.
According to ABC News, the case has rarely referenced to Manafort’s role in the Trump campaign, making it unclear of how this case fits into the larger picture of the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
via Aaron P. Bernstein/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
Prosecutors had called in bookkeepers, accountants and Manafort’s longtime business partner, and final witnesses appeared on Friday to discuss Manafort’s financial wrongdoings. The prosecution’s case was supposed to wrap up last week, but a delay left one final witness for Monday.
One of the last witnesses on Monday was a mortgage banker with The Federal Savings Bank, which had loaned money to Manafort in 2016.
Over the past two weeks, an array of witnesses revealed that Manafort had evaded taxes on $60 million from overseas lobbying and consulting work for a Russian-backed Ukrainian political party, ABC News reports.
Manafort’s longtime business partner and Mueller’s key witness, Rick Gates, admitted to depositing millions of dollars into offshore accounts to evade taxes, but maintained that all actions he took were done at Manafort’s direction.
The defense team is expected to identify its witness list, but it declined to say whether Manafort will take the stand.
Both teams are expected to give their closing statements this week.
GOP Congressman’s Son Donates to Democrat Running For Father’s Seat
Bobby Goodlatte, son of retiring Rep. Bob Goodlatte, announced his support for a Democratic candidate running for his father’s seat.
The congressman’s son tweeted Sunday that he had given the maximum amount allowed to Jennifer Lewis, a mental health worker and community advocate seeking to represent Virginia’s 6th Congressional District, The Huffington Post reports.
“2018 is the year to flip districts ― let’s do this!” Bobby Goodlatte tweeted.
I just gave the maximum allowed donation to Jennifer Lewis, a democrat running for my father’s congressional seat. I’ve also gotten 5 other folks to commit to donate the max. 2018 is the year to flip districts — let’s do this! https://t.co/bYCKta2Bhs
— Bobby Goodlatte (@rsg) August 13, 2018
Overwhelmed with the support we’ve seen today. But don’t just retweet—donate!! https://t.co/mHrKwy8obb https://t.co/wpx3hOTOXk
— Bobby Goodlatte (@rsg) August 13, 2018
On Monday, the young Goodlatte, tweeted that he was “deeply embarrassed” that his father’s “political grandstanding” contributed to the recent firing of FBI agent Peter Strzok.
I’m deeply embarrassed that Peter Strzok’s career was ruined by my father’s political grandstanding. That committee hearing was a low point for Congress.
Thank you for your service sir. You are a patriot https://t.co/3dNN3AlXCZ
— Bobby Goodlatte (@rsg) August 13, 2018
Rep. Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, accused Strzok of being politically biased against President Donald Trump while assisting special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Rep. Goodlatte announced in November that he would not seek reelection in 2018.
When asked before the primary if he would support the Republican nominee for his seat, Rep. Goodlatte told the Richmond Times-Dispatch, “If they want my help, they’ll have it.”
According to HuffPost, Lewis supports “Medicare for all,” a $15-per-hour minimum wage, legal marijuana and an end to corporate “personhood.” Her Republican opponent, Ben Cline, is a Trump supporter and former aide to Rep. Goodlatte.
What to look out for…
Today is National Creamsicle Day! Summer has been miserable, so enjoy a delicious, cool treat!