Omarosa reveals audio of Trump campaign aides allegedly discussing potential fallout of N-word

Omarosa reveals audio of Trump campaign aides allegedly discussing potential fallout of N-word

Now here she used the tape properly to spring a trap. She first released an excerpt from her book which purported to be a verbatim account of a telephone conversation in which she and some White House staffers discussed how to spin Trump’s use of the n-word. The staffers then denied that the conversation took place and called Omarosa a liar and a fiction writer. She THEN released the tape.

If I had been one of the staffers, I would have been circumspect about denying the book’s version, since the conversation was presented in quotation marks rather than as a paraphrase. If I saw that, I’d guess that she might be transcribing.

On the other hand …

There is still, to my knowledge, no concrete evidence that Trump used the word. There are simply conversations among the staff of how to spin it, based on a rumor that Trump had said it on tape. So far, no such tape has been produced, and nobody specific (excepting Omarosa) has come forward with a claim to have actually heard the putative tape. The rumors have all been based on a second- or third-hand account.

“Trump Foreign Policy Held Back by Struggle to Grasp Time Zones, Maps”

“Trump Foreign Policy Held Back by Struggle to Grasp Time Zones, Maps”

Not The Onion. This one is real.

Thanksgiving dinner is going to be really awkward at Bob Goodlatte’s house this year

Thanksgiving dinner is going to be really awkward at Bob Goodlatte’s house this year

White House exploring legal options against Omarosa Manigault Newman for making secret recording in Situation Room

White House exploring legal options against Omarosa Manigault Newman for making secret recording in Situation Room

The last desperate gasp of criminals betrayed by damning evidence is to claim the evidence was illegally obtained. The last desperate ploy of dirty cops taped by onlookers is to claim that the taping is illegal. The last refuge of a scoundrel is patriotism, per Dr. Samuel Johnson.

The White House is now in last-refuge status. Facing the irrefutable evidence of their own taped conversations, they can no longer deny saying those things, and the “Omarosa is lying” defense really can’t be used, because they don’t know what she did or didn’t tape. The only thing left is to condemn the process by which she obtained the recordings, and especially to impugn her patriotism in bringing a recording device into the sacred situation room. One person even said that her recordings were a danger to national security.

And all of that cavilling just produces a “so what, stop changing the subject” response once the recordings are out there.

Personally, I think Omarosa has misplayed her hand. She should make her claims first, wait for the White House to call her a liar, THEN release the tapes showing that her claim was accurate, and that the responder is the liar. She basically failed to follow the first two rules of investigation: (1) always let the guilty party trip himself up, (2) and never let him know what you know.