WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump took another swipe at his former Apprentice and White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman on Tuesday in especially angry terms, slamming her as a “dog” and a “crazed, crying lowlife” as her tell-all book hits stores.

Manigault Newman — who first gained fame as a contestant on Trump’s reality TV show — has dripped out recordings of private conversations she had while on staff in the White House as she promotes her memoir about her time with “The Donald”. The book — in which she variously describes Trump as a racist, liar and “germophobe” with a “total lack of empathy” — has plunged the White House and the president again into crisis, and dominated news headlines for days.

Trump had already branded “Omarosa” — as she is commonly known in America — a “lowlife” after she released a recording of her firing by chief of staff John Kelly, seemingly recorded in the White House Situation Room. And after she released a recording of a conversation she had with Trump after her firing, he repeated called her “wacky”.

“When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!” Trump tweeted.

But on Tuesday, he ratcheted up the war of words — to a level of nastiness rarely seen, even from a president who has shown he does not pull punches when insulting his critics.

His comment immediately prompted criticism on both sides of the political aisle.

The recordings by the disgruntled 44-year-old Manigault Newman, once an ardent Trump ally, represents a stunning breach of presidential trust.

On Tuesday, she explained to CBS News why she made the recordings: “I’m the kind of person who covers her own back. In Trump World, everyone lies.” “Everyone says one thing one day and they change their story the next day.

I wanted to have this type of documentation... in the event I found myself in this position where, as you said, they’re questioning my credibility.”

Manigault Newman’s book, Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House, hit bookstores and digital platforms on Tuesday. Largely self-serving, it describes the daily firefighting of life on the Trump campaign and then in the White House.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2018