Kay Coles James, the president of the Heritage Foundation, says former ‘Apprentice’ star Omarosa Manigualt blocked her from joining the administration during its first year.
‘It was Omarosa,’ she said, naming the recently departed official in the office of public liaison.
The former director of the Office of Personnel Management during the George W. Bush administration and first African American president of Heritage told Politico that Omarosa viewed her as a rival who needed to be dispensed with.
‘The way it was described to me is she approached the whole thing like it was ‘The Apprentice,’ James told the publication. ‘So she looked around Washington and said, ‘OK, who do I need to get rid of first?’
‘It was Omarosa’: Kay Coles James, the president of the Heritage Foundation, says former ‘Apprentice’ star Omarosa Manigualt blocked her from joining the administration during its first year
James, an official in the Reagan and George H.W. administrations as well, expected she might get a chance to join the administration. The administration hired other people from Heritage and adopted many of its policy ideas.
The foundation even conducted a review and found the administration had embraced or carried out two-thirds of its policies, the New York Times reported in January – and James was quoted lauding the administration in a story about it.
‘There is so much noise in this town that I think it obscures the real work that’s being done,’ said James, praising an administration that others slammed for chaos.
‘This administration is doing quite well in terms of advancing a conservative agenda — clearly, quite well,’ she said.
James said that with Omarosa out of the picture, things improved dramatically.
‘The day she left, the doors of the White House flung open, and they said, “Come,”‘she said.
Kay Coles James, president of the Heritage Foundation, listens during a discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018
In this photo taken on January 14, 2009, Kay Coles James visited the home of Dr. Robert Russa Moton in Cappahosic, Gloucester County as a child. She has turned it into The Gloucester Institute, a leadership training organization for African Americans. She calls Moton’s home the cradle of civil rights
White House Director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison Omarosa Manigault talks with President Donald Trump as he hands out treats as they welcome children from the Washington area and children of military families to trick-or-treat for Halloween at the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on Monday, Oct. 30, 2017
Former Director of Communications for the White House Public Liaison Office Omarosa Manigault. She blasted the Trump White House after she left
She told Politico: ‘I was very looking forward to an opportunity to serve in that White House in some capacity to help maybe on domestic policy, maybe in the Office of Public Liaison — in any of those capacities to get the job done.’
Soon after she left, Manigault appeared on ‘Celebrity Big Brother,’ where she issued some denunciations of the White House she left.
The country is ‘going to not be OK’ under Trump, she said. Trump gave her her start on ‘The Apprentice.’
The White House fired back after her comments.
‘Omarosa was fired three times on ‘The Apprentice,’ and this was the fourth time we let her go,’ said White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah, using ‘we’ to describe the ‘Apprentice’ period.
‘She had limited contact with the president while here. She has no contact now,’ Shah said, minimizing her role.