Omarosa Manigault was once fired from The Apprentice but remained in Donald Trump’s good graces long enough to land a high paying White House job as communications director for the Office of Public Liaison.
Unfortunately, her time is up—again. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House Press Secretary, announced her departure this morning with a statement saying she “resigned yesterday to pursue other opportunities.” Manigault will remain in her role until January 20.
Sounds professional enough, right? But it appears that’s not the full story, as reporters quickly uncovered more details of an apparent drama that unfolded yesterday prior to her departure.
According to multiple sources Omarosa did not resign. She was even escorted out of he building and off campus.
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) December 13, 2017
Omarosa’s time at the White House has been clouded by confusion about what she actually does all day, reports that Chief of Staff John Kelly wanted her gone months ago, and a Politico story about her bringing her 39-person bridal party to the White House for a photo shoot without warning. In short: the Press Secretary’s statement raised some questions about what really led to her departure and if it was her choice to go.
The confusion extends to the increasingly standard happy hour specials at The Bird, the DC bar that announced $4 happy hour special for fired White House officials this past summer. After initially declining to do a special, citing Omarosa’s purported voluntary exit, the Bird decided to go ahead with a special from 5-7 PM Wednesday. We just hope Omarosa had time to pick up all of her shoes on her way out.
Abbey joined Washingtonian in September 2017. A Miami University (Ohio, not Florida) alum, she called the Midwest home before moving to Vermont to report for the Burlington Free Press and to be closer to her one true love: Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Her work has also appeared in Cincinnati Magazine and USA Today. Abbey lives in Falls Church.
