Penn Jillette: Trump said ‘racially insensitive things’ during ‘Apprentice’ tapings

Comedian and magician Penn Jillette said in a new interview that he heard President Trump “say racially insensitive things that made [him] uncomfortable” during tapings of “Celebrity Apprentice” as new claims from ex-White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” make headlines.

Jillette, who was a contestant on the show in 2013, told Vulture in an interview published Tuesday that Trump would “ramble” during tapings of his former reality TV show.

“I don’t think he ever said anything in that room like ‘African-Americans are inferior’ or anything about rape or grabbing women, but of those two hours every other day in a room with him, every 10 minutes was fingernails on chalkboard,” Jillette said. “He would ask one cast member if he’d rather have sex with this woman or that woman.”

{mosads}Jillette, who makes up one half of the magic-comedy duo Penn & Teller, also said he believes “Apprentice” creator Mark Burnett has tapes of Trump saying “damaging things.” He said that he was “in the room” when Trump used the language, but declined to give specifics.

Jillette’s comments come as Manigault Newman alleges that she has heard tapes of Trump using the N-word on the set of the NBC series.

Manigault Newman writes in her new book, released Tuesday, that she heard from sources about the tapes and has said in recent interviews that she has since heard the audio for herself.

Trump and the White House have both aggressively denied the claims, with the president asserting that the racial slur is “not in my vocabulary” and attacking Manigault Newman as a “dog.”

Jillette told Vulture that he “can emotionally tell you things that happened racially, sexually, and that showed stupidity and lack of compassion when I was in the room with Donald Trump and I guarantee you that I will get details wrong.”

“If Donald Trump had not become president, I would tell you all the stories. But the stakes are now high and I am an unreliable narrator,” he said.

He added that he was only sleeping four to five hours a night during the taping of the show and was under stress during filming.

“If he hadn’t become president, I would be telling stories all day long. And if someone were to say, ‘Penn didn’t get that exactly right,’ you’d go ‘Who cares?’” Jillette said.

Manigault Newman, who has said she made secret recordings from her time in the White House, released audio early Tuesday that appears to show Trump campaign staffers discussing the potential fallout if a tape of the president using the N-word were to be released.