We all know at least one person who got a really good job and immediately let it go to their head. Before they even got their first paycheck, they were already showing out, acting like they were running things and generally making a fool of themselves. In the Trump White House, that person is Omarosa Manigault.
Omarosa is a senior aide in the White House Office of Public Liaison, an office Politico describes as being “barely known outside government-insider circles.” Its purpose is to cultivate outside support for the president’s agenda.
The office accomplishes this by working with business, religious and other groups to garner support. Staffers in the Office of Public Liaison set up White House events for community groups, including veterans and special honorees. They also attend conferences and events to promote the president, and they work to create outside political and civic campaigns.
Omarosa is remembered as one of the most cutthroat contestants on Donald Trump’s former “reality” show The Apprentice. She maintained her ties with Trump long after he fired her nine weeks into her reign on The Apprentice, and she was selected to be director of African-American outreach for the Trump presidential campaign.
Once Trump was elected, Omarosa was installed as director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison—and she apparently wasted no time in taking advantage of her position.
Politico reports that in early April, Omarosa caused a stir in the White House by using 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. as the scene of an “extended wedding photo shoot” with members of her 39-person bridal party.
The nerve, right?
Like, who does that? Who gets a job at the White House and decides to host a wedding shoot there, much to the chagrin of co-workers and White House security alike? Omarosa, that’s who.
White House officials told Politico that it’s unclear whether Omarosa had permission to host the photo shoot in the first place. Her guests are said to have “loudly wandered around,” trying to snap photos in the Rose Garden and the West Wing.
Ultimately, Omarosa was banned from posting the pictures online because of security and ethical concerns.
This was apparently not the only time Omarosa and her inflated sense of self-importance ran afoul of the delicate sensitivities of others in the White House.
In June, Omarosa was sending invitations out for members of the Congressional Black Caucus to meet with Trump. She signed the invitations as the “Honorable Omarosa Manigault.” OK, girl.
In August, she got into it with the moderator of a panel at the annual National Association of Black Journalists convention, and she was heckled by the audience after she defended Trump.
Despite all of this, Trump is said to still like Omarosa—though they don’t have much contact with each other anymore. Omarosa—along with several other White House senior aides—has had her access to the Oval Office cut off by chief of staff John Kelly, who wants to control the flow of information to the president.
Read more at Politico.