Omarosa Manigault Newman, who got bounced ignominiously from her nebulous role on #TeamTrump two years ago, wants to join a lawsuit filed by a lesser-known black Trump campaign staffer that alleges Donald Trump kissed her without asking and paid her and other black staffers less than their white and male co-workers.
Omarosa is just claiming the cash part—not the kissing part—of Alva Johnson’s lawsuit. But if a judge approves, Omarosa will join Johnson’s action against Trump.
“While I strongly suspected I was subjected to pay discrimination while with the Trump campaign, I have since seen expert analysis confirming this to be true. The numbers don’t lie,” Omarosa told the Washington Post in a statement.
“The Trump campaign has never discriminated based on race, ethnicity, gender, or any other basis,” Kayleigh McEnany, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, said Monday. “Any allegation suggesting otherwise is off base and unfounded.”
Attorneys for Johnson, a black woman from Alabama who worked as a campaign staffer for Trump in 2016, filed a motion in court Monday to allow Omarosa and others to join her suit as a collective action.
The filing included data from a pay study that found that female Trump campaign staffers on average were paid 18.2 percent less than male staffers holding the same job title and duties. It also noted a pay gap of nearly 50 percent among male and female staffers in top-ranking jobs.
Johnson’s attorneys indicated to the court that more detailed data about pay by gender, age, race or other demographic could be found as a result of discovery if the court granted its request to expand the case.
“This case is about two things: Donald Trump’s predation, and his campaign’s discrimination against women and people of color,” Hassan Zavareei, the lead attorney representing Johnson, said.
Omarosa, who has said she’s for #AnyoneButTrump in 2020, added: “After nearly 20 years inside the Beltway, working for two White Houses and countless political campaigns, I’ve never witnessed such egregious violations as I did during my time under the leadership of Donald Trump and Mike Pence.”
Whether sex and money, or money and sex, if this lawsuit passes judicial muster, this could be yet another wild ride with this administration.