Omarosa's Florida Lawyer Takes to Twitter in Feud With Trump Campaign
Former White House employee Omarosa Manigault Newman is assembling a team of lawyers to fight the Trump campaign's allegations that she violated a nondisclosure agreement when she released an audio tape of her firing.
August 15, 2018 at 02:49 PM
5 minute read
It seems that President Donald Trump is not the only one airing grievances on Twitter in his public spat with former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.
Newman's Florida lawyer, John M.Phillips, of the Law Offices of John M. Phillips in Jacksonville, Florida, also seems to have a penchant for the social media platform.
Attorney John M. Phillips of Jacksonville, Florida. Photo: Wikimedia Commons“I got a call from @realDonaldTrump's 2016 campaign lawyers,” Phillips tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “I asked why they took the alleged arbitration petition to the media BEFORE serving Omarosa or her legal team. I ended the call with a lesson on professionalism.”
He ended the tweet with two hashtags: #dobetter and #unhinged, a nod to the title of Newman's new book.
I got a call from @realDonaldTrump's 2016 campaign lawyers. I asked why they took the alleged arbitration petition to the media BEFORE serving Omarosa or her legal team. I ended the call with a lesson on professionalism. #dobetter #unhinged
— John M. Phillips (@JohnPhillips) August 14, 2018
But Phillips did tweet about his past with the reality television star, who rose to fame on Trump's show, “The Apprentice.”
“Many have asked about how Omarosa and I met. My team found this photo,” Phillips tweeted, captioning a screenshot of a panel featured on television network news. “We met many years ago mutually fighting for justice for all. We've served turkey to the hungry and fought wrongs together.”
Newman lost her job during a meeting with the White House chief of staff. During that meeting, her tapes suggest Kelly said, ”I think it's important to understand that if we can make this a friendly departure we can all be, you know, you can look at your time here in the White House as a year of service to the nation. And then you can go on without any type of difficulty in the future relative to your reputation.”
Newman made the audio public, claiming Kelly's comments were threatening. She also released a book, “Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House,” unpacking salacious details about Trump and his administration.
In response to the audio leak, Trump tweeted on Aug. 13 that “Wacky Omarosa already has a fully signed Non-Disclosure Agreement!”
The Trump campaign is reported to have hired Charles Harder, to represent him in the arbitration action. Harder, who also represented Hulk Hogan in a sex tape lawsuit against former gossip blog Gawker, did not respond to request for comment before deadline.
The Trump campaign's lawyers reportedly contacted Newman's lawyer Phillips about the arbitration, according to his Twitter feed. Arbitration aims to resolve a dispute with an impartial adjudicator, whose ultimate decision on a matter is final and binding.
While working for the Trump campaign, Newman was director of African-American outreach. But she alluded to the existence of one recording in which Trump allegedly used the N-word while filming “The Apprentice.”
Trump responded to the allegation with a tweet saying, “I don't have that word in my vocabulary and never have. She made it up.” He fired Newman three times on his reality TV show.
On Aug. 14, Newman told Trevor Noah on “The Daily Show” that the Trump administration “lied to the American people every single day, so it doesn't surprise me that when they're faced with the truth they'll push back.”
As part of the White House staff, Newman said she was “totally complicit” but that she “didn't go in thinking we were going to lie.”
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