Trump Says He’s Suing ‘Multiple People’ for Violating Confidentiality Agreements

Trump Says He’s Suing ‘Multiple People’ for Violating Confidentiality Agreements
President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the White House on Aug. 21, 2019. Jim WatsonAFP/Getty Images
Holly Kellum
Updated:

President Donald Trump said he’s filed a lawsuit against former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman for violating her confidentiality agreement. He also said he’s filed suits against “various people” for violating their non-disclosure agreements.

Trump said Manigault Newman, who served as the White House communications director of the Office of Public Liaison, used her time in the White House to get “some cheap money from a book.”

“I gave her every break, despite the fact that she was despised by everyone, and she went for some cheap money from a book,” he wrote on Twitter on Aug. 31.

It’s not clear who the others he’s allegedly suing are. The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Manigault Newman was fired in December 2017 after she recorded and publicized private conversations she had with former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Last August, the Trump campaign reportedly filed for arbitration against her for violating a non-disclosure agreement she signed then violated with her book “Unhinged.” It’s not clear if the lawsuit Trump referred to in his Aug. 31 Twitter post is the same.

Donald J. Trump for President did not return an emailed request for comment by the time of publication.

A former contestant on “The Apprentice,” Manigault Newman worked on both Trump’s 2016 election campaign and in the White House.

In June, the Justice Department filed a $50,000 lawsuit against her, alleging she failed to file a financial disclosure agreement after she left the White House, despite being reminded.
Her attorney said she was unable to do so because she couldn’t get access to records she left at the White House, which were seized after she was fired.

The comments on Manigault Newman and other staffers come after Trump said he didn’t think he would need to enforce a confidentiality agreement with former White House aid Madeleine Westerhout, who abruptly left the White House Aug. 29.

Trump said she “mentioned a couple of things about my children” during an off-the-record conversation with reporters, before he accused reporters of breaking the off-the-record agreement.

“But nevertheless, you don’t say things, you don’t say certain things.  So, it was too bad,” he said on Aug. 30.

She called him about the incident and was “very upset” and “very down,” he said.

“But she’s a very, you know, good person.  And I thought—I always felt she did a good job.”

Holly Kellum
Holly Kellum
Washington Correspondent
Holly Kellum is a Washington correspondent for NTD. She has worked for NTD on and off since 2012.
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