Omarosa Manigault-Newman revealed that Donald Trump had been gunning for CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta for years, saying Trump even held meetings to strategize on how to revoke his press credentials
The former White House official told TMZ that Acosta had been a longtime target. He was stripped of his press credentials last week without warning, hours after he and President Donald Trump battled through a tense exchange.
“They’ve been wanting to get rid of Jim for such a long time since I was in the White House,” she said. “In private meetings, they’d talk about how to figure out how to revoke his pass.”
Manigault-Newman served as the administration’s director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison before she was unceremoniously let go last December.
Earlier this week, CNN filed a lawsuit against President Trump and several of his aides, seeking the immediate restoration of Acosta’s access to the White House. The suit alleges that Acosta and CNN’s First and Fifth Amendment rights are being violated by the ban.
Manigault-Newman has been under the radar after her book about her time in the White House, “Unhinged” made a splash in the late summer.
But she agreed that Acosta deserved his credentials back.
“His press pass should be reinstated,” she said.