According to former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos chalked up her panned commencement speech at the historically black Bethune-Cookman University to the students’ lack of “capacity to understand” her goals.
According to a Tuesday Politico report, when DeVos gave the speech in May 2017, many students booed her or turned their backs. Per Manigault Newman via her new memoir UNHINGED, DeVos pushed on with her speech, raising her voice to be heard over the booing.
After the painful speech, DeVos reportedly told Manigault Newman that she thought she did “great,” adding that: “They don’t get it. They don’t have the capacity to understand what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Manigault Newman says she told DeVos that the students did understand her agenda, and that they weren’t pleased with it. In retribution, DeVos reportedly ditched Manigault Newman at the hotel, telling her to get an Uber.
A spokesperson for DeVos denied the claims, telling Politico: “This disgraced former White House employee is peddling lies for profit. The book is a joke as are the false claims she’s making about Secretary DeVos.”
When Manigault Newman completed her journey back to D.C., she says that she complained to President Donald Trump about DeVos’ behavior. He allegedly said: “She is Ditzy DeVos, what do you expect? In a very short period of time, I will get rid of her. Believe me, believe me.”
Manigault Newman also accuses DeVos of cancelling the annual HBCU conference in a huff, to the tune of $75,000 taxpayer-funded cancellation fees.
