Omarosa Sued By DOJ For Alleged Ethics Violation

Omarosa Manigault, a staffer for US President-elect Donald Trump, listens as Martin Luther King III speaks to the media after meeting with the President-elect at Trump Tower in New York City on January 16, 2017. / A... Omarosa Manigault, a staffer for US President-elect Donald Trump, listens as Martin Luther King III speaks to the media after meeting with the President-elect at Trump Tower in New York City on January 16, 2017. / AFP / DOMINICK REUTER (Photo credit should read DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Omarosa Manigault — the reality TV star who became a White House staffer before returning to reality TV — was hit with a Justice Department lawsuit Tuesday alleging a failure to comply with an ethics law upon her departure from the White House.

Manigault was required to submit a financial disclosure form when she left the government, but failed to do so, according to the lawsuit. Ethics lawyers sent her several her emails, via multiple email addresses, in the weeks after her exit from the White House reminding her of the obligation, the lawsuit alleged, in addition to he briefing on it she received the day her employment was terminated.

The Justice Department is asking the court to order that Manigault submit the financial disclose form and that she fork over a civil fine of up to $50,000.

Manigault — known usually by just her first name — was hired to President Trump’s White House after supporting him during his campaign. She previously starred on several seasons of The Apprentice, often playing the role of the show’s villain. Before supporting Trump’s campaign she was a Democrat and even worked for the Clinton administration.

She proved to be a controversial Trump staffer, with reports swirling around her that fellow White House officials had no idea what her job was and complaints that she was using the White House gig for her personal benefit, such as when she staged photographs for her wedding there.

She was fired in December 2017 by then-chief of ctaff John Kelly — in a conversation she surreptitiously recorded and later released — and she ultimately wrote a tell-all book about her time in the administration. Before publishing her book, she also dished on her time at the White House on the TV show Celebrity Big Brother.

Read the lawsuit below:

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Notable Replies

  1. It doesn’t get any richer than the Toadglans DOJ suing anyone for violating ethics laws.

  2. Avatar for outis outis says:

    I don’t have much sympathy for Omarosa, but this feels like petty vengeance.

  3. I’m sure she isn’t the first to fail and she won’t be the last to fail, but she has managed to piss off the big guy, so she’s probably being targeted. Wonder if she can prove it?

    Of course, she probably believes she’s above the law too, so there’s that.

    ETA: Remember when she told all of us we would bow down to Trump? I guess she forgot to.

  4. The weaponization of the DOJ continues.

    Wonder when they’ll announce the charges against Hillary?

  5. Avatar for pshah pshah says:

    Dare I say this appears to be selective prosecution by the DoJ, and is in and of itself unethical? Who has standing to sue them?

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