Omarosa Manigault may be the assistant to President Donald Trump and communications director for the Office of Public Liaison, but according to the Daily Beast, the only friend she has in the White House is the president himself.
A Republican official close to the White House was quoted saying Manigault is “widely despised” among West Wing staff: “She doesn’t have any friends in high places—except the one place [where] it matters.”
White House sources lamented that President Trump trusts very few people outside of his own family, and on that short list is Manigault, who had an infamous stint on The Apprentice and claims personal friendship with the president.
The Daily Beast reported that the president often speaks to Manigault over the phone, even in the middle of the night. The report also stated that she is known to frequently derail meetings with irrelevant and sometimes even counterproductive comments.
This despite White House chief of staff John Kelly working to try to push back her access to and influence over the president. According to reports coming from inside the White House, Kelly is working to limit Manigault’s access to the president in an attempt to bring order to the chaos that has engulfed this administration.
For the most part, she has been staying out of the spotlight with the exception of her appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists convention.
The problem, according to sources, is that the stories she would present to Trump would be negative ones that would distract him for the rest of the day.
These same sources say that it was Manigault who showed Trump the online articles about Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that enraged him for weeks.
They also said, “When Gen. Kelly is talking about clamping down on access to the Oval, she’s patient zero.”
Kelly is looking to “put a dent” in Manigault’s influence and has been limiting her access to the president.
One White House source said that Kelly is “thrilled that he has been able to stop staffers including Omarosa from bolting into the Oval Office and triggering the president with White House [palace] intrigue stories.”
That being said, Trump still calls her from time to time for advice.
Moreover, although sources complain that Manigault has no work ethic and does not do much in the White House, she reportedly earns an annual salary of $179,700, which is the top rate for White House employees.
