Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in an interview Thursday he was unsure why Trump ally Omarosa Manigault Newman was hired to the White House.
“I don’t know,” Spicer responded when asked by Fox News’s Laura Ingraham why Manigault Newman, a former reality TV star, was hired.
“[Did] she have any qualifications to work in the White House?” Ingraham asked.
“Look, she was very loyal to the president,” Spicer replied, before Ingraham noted that Manigault Newman campaigned for Trump during the 2016 election.
{mosads}
“I think the president brought a lot of people who wanted to fulfill his agenda,” Spicer said. “And that’s his prerogative … I wish her the best. But I don’t — I’m not really sure.”
Manigault Newman, a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” joined the White House when President Trump entered office this year. She was named director of communications at the White House Office of Public Liaison. She left on Wednesday under disputed circumstances.
Current White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that Maginault Newman submitted her resignation, but reports emerged that she was fired by White House chief of staff John Kelly.
The U.S. Secret Service denied claims that it had to escort Maginault Newman off White House grounds, but confirmed that it had deactivated her security pass.
American Urban Radio Network’s April Ryan reported that Maginault Newman was fired, “cursed a lot and said she helped elect President Trump.” CBS News later reported that she tripped White House alarms trying to gain access to the residence after being dismissed.
Maginault Newman said Thursday that she saw things during her time as an assistant to Trump that made her “uncomfortable.”