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Spicer: I Don't Know Why Omarosa Was Hired in the First Place

December 15, 2017

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer appears to number among the past and current Trump administration members who don't have a high opinion of departing aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.

Asked by Fox News host Laura Ingraham about her reported stormy departure, Spicer said he had no insights.

"Why was she hired, do you think?" Ingraham asked.

"I don't know," Spicer said.

Best known by her first name, Omarosa, a former reality show star who came to prominence on Donald Trump's "The Apprentice," worked as a White House communications aide focusing on African-American outreach, but she had a loosely defined role that reportedly won the scorn of her colleagues.

According to reports, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly finally fired her and she had to be escorted off the premises when she exploded with anger and tried to reach Trump in the residence.

Omarosa denied that occurred in an interview Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America," adding vaguely she also had seen troubling things during her White House tenure that affected the African American community and she had a "profound" story to tell.

Ingraham asked what qualifications she had to work in the White House, but all Spicer could offer was she was "very loyal" to Trump.

"I think the president brought a lot of people who wanted to fulfill his agenda, and that's his prerogative as president-elect at the time," Spicer said. "I wish her the best, but I'm not really sure—"

"She has a story to tell. Did you see any part of her story?" Ingraham asked.

"I don't," Spicer said.

"She's a very charismatic person ... Big personality, I kind of like that, but some people can't take that," Ingraham said.

"Uh, I will leave it at that," Spicer said, laughing.