April Ryan didn't pull any punches when asked how she feels about this Trump-created "monster"--Omarosa Manigault-Newman--who has come back to bite him in the you-know-what with her new book and the revelation that she made recordings in the Oval Office and the Situation Room.
The American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent made an appearance on CNN's Reliable Sources this Sunday, and was asked by host Brian Stelter what she thought about the recordings, given the fact that Newman had also recorded Ryan.
Ryan made the same point I and many others made earlier, which is that this is a matter of national security, and much bigger than just the he-said/she-said, or loyalty discussions revolving around the release of her new book.
STELTER: April, I know that Omarosa also secretly taped you in the past, so how are you processing this new tape?
RYAN: Yes, she did. Well, you know, in The Washington Post article after she edited a tape of our altercation in the West Wing that I detail in my book factually, she passed the tapes around and said, “That is what we do,” meaning that is what everyone including the president of the United States does: tapes people. But here is the problem.
If indeed these tapes are factual and I believe them to be credible, I was on Twitter today and I was reading some of the tweets and I saw something from David Frum after the Meet the Press interview and I called Congressman Elijah Cummings, Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings, who is the Minority Leader in the Government in Oversight Reform Committee in the House and he said if indeed these tapes are there and they were taken in the Situation Room and the Oval Office and other places, this is a national security issue and he's looking into it.
National security protocols were not followed. Omarosa says she has taped in the Oval Office, and in the Situation Room. We've heard the tapes. Now I've talked to people from former administrations and they have said you are not allowed – and I know this for a fact, when we go into OTRs with the president or a senior official we have to put our cell phones in a cubby holes in the Roosevelt Room.
In the Oval Office, you're not supposed to tape, you're not supposed to bring your cellphone. In the Situation Room, you're not supposed to bring your cellphone. In the Roosevelt Room, you're not supposed to have your cellphone in the office of the Chief of Staff and you're not supposed to have your cellphone in the national security office.
And this leads to a broader question. Are national security protocols being followed in this White House? Because, you know, we're talking about Russia. Now you got to worry about Omarosa, and then others who might have cellphones taping things and they could be hacked.
So this is not just about a booking getting paid for a booking telling all. You know, if she did the tapes, we hear voices and everything, you don't know if they are edited are not, but the bottom line... and there is a credibility issue with her. I'm just going to be honest with you. There's a credibility issue with everyone, but there are tapes. And this is a national security issue. This is not just about a book anymore. She's giving receipts and she's now in trouble.
And she wrapped things up later in the segment giving Newman the treatment she deserves, along with Trump for "creating this monster" in the first place.
RYAN: Yeah, I've known Omarosa for years and we are not friends anymore. What has happened is, is that this White House created this monster and it was even before this White House. You know, I would say Donald Trump created his own monster and now the monster, he created the own monster in his own likeness and this monster has come back to bite him.
And the bottom line is, I can tell you for a fact, she was complicit, but she also did the bidding and she wanted to prove that she was in their camp because she used to be a Democrat. And she went so far to go as to try to go after me.
She told Sean Spicer to stop calling on me. She has done so much. She lied on me telling people that I was taking money from Hillary Clinton to hurt my career. Omarosa did these things. She may not even talk about it in her book but I talk about in mine and she did these things to support her president and to support her friend that she said she was loyal to.
And the bottom line is that yes, she was complicit, but she was doing all this knowing it was going to be a payoff in the end for her and then once she got upset with him or he got upset with her, or whatever happened, she decides to turn on him.
She's not a friend. She's a liar and I would say she's evil.
STELTER: I hope she can respond to that at some point soon, calling her evil.
RYAN: She will. I'm sure she will. I'm sure she will.
What's that saying about karma?
Ryan let Omarosa have it on Twitter as well. I'm sure she won't be any happier about this Tweet than she was her interview on CNN.
