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Omarosa Defends Decision To Secretly Tape Conversation With Trump

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Former presidential adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman is releasing an audio recording of a conversation she says she had with President Donald Trump after she was fired from the White House.

An excerpt was aired on NBC's "Today Show" Monday. On the recording, Trump expresses surprise that she had been asked to leave. He says: "Nobody even told me about it."

Manigault Newman is drawing fire for the secret recordings she made at the White House, including one of her firing by chief of staff John Kelly in the high-security Situation Room.

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Photo: KDKA

Parts of her conversation with Kelly were aired on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday as Manigault Newman promotes her new book, "Unhinged."

President Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, says he thinks Omarosa may have broken the law by recording private conversations at the White House. And, he adds, she should have been more loyal to the president because "Donald Trump made her."

Giuliani told Fox News' "Fox & Friends": "What kind of ingratitude is this?"

When asked if she broke the law, Giuliani said: "She's certainly violating national security regulations, which I think have the force of law."

Manigault Newman said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that she surreptitiously recorded a number of conversations in the White House for her own protection. Parts of her conversation with Chief of Staff John Kelly were played on the air. Critics denounced the recordings as a serious breach of ethics and security.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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