„wrong is wrong, and a direct violation of an agreement must be addressed“
The Washington Examiner is reporting that the Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against Omarosa Manigault Newman for violating a non-disclosure agreement she signed when she worked for the Trump campaign:
In New York, Trump campaign lawyers filed for an arbitration to force the former “Apprentice” star to abide by the agreement they say she signed when joining the 2016 campaign.
According to a sample of the agreement provided to Secrets, she was required to keep proprietary information about the president, his companies or his family confidential and to never “disparage” the Trump family “during the term of your service and at all times thereafter.”…
In a statement, a campaign official said, “Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. has filed an arbitration against Omarosa Manigault-Newman, with the American Arbitration Association in New York City, for breach of her 2016 confidentiality agreement with the Trump Campaign.”
The official added, “President Trump is well known for giving people opportunities to advance in their careers and lives over the decades, but wrong is wrong, and a direct violation of an agreement must be addressed and the violator must be held accountable,” added the official.
Since Sunday when Omarosa first played a tape of a portion of her “exit interview” with John Kelly, there have been reports that the Trump administration might take legal action against her. From ABC News:
Omarosa Manigault Newman’s former White House colleagues are looking into legal options to stop her from releasing more tapes and to punish her for secretly recording her conversation with Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, White House officials tell ABC News.
If Omarosa has been recording conversations since 2016, she could have a lot more material than we’ve seen so far. She probably led with the n-word allegation because that was her most damaging shot against Trump himself, but she could still have dozens of recordings that would damage other White House insiders. “If you pissed off Omarosa, buckle up — it’s going to be a tough couple of weeks,” one unnamed official told ABC News .
Over at Lawfare, there’s an article suggesting that Trump’s ability to stop Omarosa from talking with an NDA is probably very limited anyway:
The Trump campaign has separately filed a civil lawsuit against Manigault-Newman, claiming that her comments on the president breached the campaign NDA she signed prior to working in the White House. But that is of no consequence either, at least with respect to her time in the administration. This NDA can no more contractually bind her to surrender her First Amendment rights than could the NDA she was offered after her departure from government.
This obviously is a frustrating legal stumbling block for the president, who has long made clear his preference for non-disclosure agreements to silence anyone who was once within his inner circle. However, as so many of us warned him while he was running for president, overseeing your own private business and being the elected head of government are two very different legal worlds. Part and parcel of being the most powerful person on the planet and the leader of a constitutional republic is the corresponding limitation on your ability to silence detractors.
In any case, Omarosa’s next step is to hire an attorney to represent her. Given how this story has gone from zero to “ dog ” in a couple days, I don’t think anyone is backing down now. This is total war and I think Allahpundit has already figured out the next bombshell that’s going to land:
Pool’s open: At what time today does Avenatti announce he’s representing Omarosa in the arbitration action
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) August 14,2018
