Omarosa Ordered To Pay More Than $60,000 In Trump Ethics Case
Omarosa Manigault Newman was ordered by a federal judge on Tuesday (March 15) to pay a $61,585 penalty for ignoring her duty to file a timely financial disclosure report after leaving the Trump White House in 2017. It’s the latest twist in the bad blood between the ex-president and his one time compatriot who has become a detractor.
In 2019, the Trump Justice Department sued Manigault Newman for failing to file a legally required personal disclosure report after the administration fired her, according to Politico. The former senior aide to Donald Trump finally submitted the paperwork in September 2019.
However, the lawsuit didn’t go away. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon rejected Manigault Newman’s argument that the abrupt firing prevented her from collecting personal files at the White House that she needed to file the required forms, as well as rejecting her claim that the filing delay was due to a dispute over her official last day of work.
Manigault Newman’s failure to timely comply with the requirements was viewed as an ethical failure, CNN reported.
"Manigault Newman willfully violated the [Ethics in Government Act]," Leon wrote, adding that she was "well aware of her obligation" to make her final disclosures and had "received countless reminders."
In response to the ruling, Manigault Newman took to Twitter to vent about “two systems of justice,” in which she’s punished for failing to file a document on time while others seemingly get away with breaking the law.
Her complaint appears to be a swipe at Trump administration ethics violations without consequences. They include a finding that at least 13 former administration officials violated the Hatch Act, which bans government officials from using their official roles to influence elections.
Manigault Newman tweeted, “The question remains… are there two systems of justice in this country. One that allows those who violate the Hatch Act and Emoluments Clause a slap on wrist and the other that orders an unprecedented fine (highest in history) for an alleged unintentional failing to file a form?”
Manigault Newman and Trump once had a warm relationship from her appearance as a contestant on Trump’s TV show, NBC’s The Apprentice. Trump hired her to serve on his 2016 presidential campaign as head of African American Outreach. After winning the election, she landed a $179,000-a-year job as a communications adviser in the White House Office of Public Liaison.
Ultimately, their relationship soured. Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly fired her in December 2017. She secretly recorded Kelly warning that her termination could be “a friendly departure … without any type of difficulty in the future relative to your reputation” before she was escorted out of the White House.
After she made the audio recording public, Trump called her a “lowlife” and a “dog.” Manigault Newman fired back with an insider tell-all book, Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House, in which she alleged that Trump is a racist who has used the N-word on the set of The Apprentice.
RELATED: Omarosa Says There’s A Tape Of Trump Using The N-Word, And People Are Asking Why She Worked For Him
Manigault Newman’s attorney, John Philips, told Politico that he “advised her to appeal” the judge’s ruling, expressing shock that the Biden Justice Department would follow through on the lawsuit.
“I’m frankly stunned by the ruling. They kept her boxes hostage, which contained the records she needed; while weaponizing litigation against her on multiple fronts,” he said, adding, “[Attorny General] Merrick Garland is supposed to be returning stability and reason back to government.”
