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Omarosa says Lara Trump offered her hush money, and she’s got the tape to prove it

“Clearly, if you come on board the campaign, like, we can’t have, we got to — ” Lara Trump says on the recording.

Omarosa Manigault Newman took another step in her reality show journey from “Apprentice” villain to White House aide to professional thorn in President Donald Trump’s side when she released multiple recordings Thursday that captured Lara Trump — Eric Trump’s wife and Trump campaign aide — offering her $15,000 per month in return for a job with the Trump re-election campaign.

“It sounds a little like, obviously, that there are some things you’ve got in the back pocket to pull out,” Lara Trump can be heard telling Manigault Newman, who was fired from her role in Trump’s White House in December 2017. “Clearly, if you come on board the campaign, like, we can’t have, we got to — ”

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“Oh God, no,” Manigault Newman interrupts on the tape, which Manigault Newman released to MSNBC.

“ — everything, everybody, positive, right?”

In an interview with MSNBC, she said she “absolutely” considered the offer to be hush money.

“She made it very clear that if I joined this campaign, that I would have to be quiet. I wouldn’t be allowed to talk to reporters, I wouldn’t be allowed to say anything against Donald Trump,” Manigault Newman said. “I saw this as an attempt to buy my silence, to censor me and to pay me off, $15,000 per month by the campaign.”

Lara Trump later went on to give a very general description of the job, which could potentially involve traveling to New York, or staying in Washington, or maybe doing speaking engagements.

“As long as I signed on the dotted line and accepted this $15,000 a month, it didn’t matter to her what I did, what my title was, or what my role or responsibility would be in the campaign,” Manigault Newman told MSNBC.

In a statement, Lara Trump said, in part:

“When Omarosa was fired by the White House Chief of Staff in December of 2017, my entire family was concerned for her because we had no idea about the basis of her dismissal. We still wanted her on our team because we cared so much about her personally. That’s why I reached out to offer her a position with the 2020 Trump Campaign before we knew anything about the gross violations of ethics and integrity during her White House tenure.”

White House chief of staff John Kelly fired Manigault Newman from the White House after she purportedly used the White House car service as a pickup and drop-off service. Federal officials are barred from doing so. She also once reportedly brought her entire bridal party to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave for a wedding photo shoot.

Cover image: Television personality and former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman listens during an interview with The Associated Press, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)