Omarosa Manigault Newman Interview With Savannah Guthrie Gets Intense: 'Slow Down'

Omarosa Manigault-Newman appeared on the Today Show on Monday, where her interview with Savannah [...]

By Michael Hein

Omarosa Manigault-Newman appeared on the Today Show on Monday, where her interview with Savannah Guthrie got extremely tense.

Manigualt-Newman and Guthrie got off to a relatively civil start -- summarizing the recent stories of Manigualt-Newman's recordings from inside the White House and the odd circumstances of her firing. The reality star turned political adviser is out promoting her new book, Unhinged, which will reportedly be a tell-all account of her time in the Trump administration.

However, she and Guthrie seemed to have a hard time navigating their conversation, Manigualt-Newman had long answers to short questions, and Guthrie struggled to get to everything. In addition, Manigualt-Newman had a short temper when it came to being rushed along.

"Wait, wait, wait," she said, as Guthrie tried to transition from one question into another. "You can't ask a question, and then ask another question without my answer."

In the following seconds, Guthrie cut Manigault-Newman off several more times, apparently trying to keep her answers short.

"Do you think the president lies often?" Guthrie asked.

"Oh absolutely, in fact —" Manigault-Newman began.

"How long have you known that?" she cut in.

This went on for several seconds before Manigualt-Newman took a measured pause.

"Savannah, slow down," she said. "I'm going to answer your question. Don't worry, I'm here. I've got all the time you need. You don't have to ask 10 questions in one second. It's okay."

Despite her efforts to steer the interview away, Manigault-Newman was eventually faced with questions about her own compliance with President Trump for so many years, and how she had suddenly turned around to become one of his biggest opponents. Guthrie asked her about the alleged recordings in which the president used the N-word on the set of The Apprentice.

"He was talking about some African Americans in the production during the course of The Apprentice, which is unacceptable," she said. "Here's the thing. Why don't we ask Donald Trump a simple question — 'Donald J. Trump, have you ever used the N-word?' — and allow him to respond? Because the people who have this tape intend to release this tape."

Guthrie was not finished. She also asked about the many times Manigualt-Newman has vouched for President Trump over the years, even claiming that he is not racist just after she was fired back in February.

"I had just been threatened by General [John] Kelly who said that things could get ugly for me, that there would be damage to my reputation. So I was being very careful," she explained. "I was very concerned about my well-being, about what these powerful people would do to me after they threatened me."

The appearance also came complete with another alleged recording from inside the White House, in which the president claimed to have no knowledge that Manigault-Newman was being fired.

The president and the White House have denied the contents of the recordings and denounced Manigault-Newman as a "disgruntled former employee."

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