Ex-Trump aide Omarosa Manigault Newman revealed specific details about former President Donald Trump’s health and raised concerns about the former president’s mental “decline” while accusing him of “dictating” medical records.
Manigault Newman, who worked closely with Trump both in the White House and on his reality TV show The Apprentice, spoke to CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday, painting a troubling picture of Trump’s mental “decline” and how he has hidden it.
According to her, Trump’s struggles have been especially evident in recent interviews and public appearances but started as early back as 2018, when she worked under him.
“The reason Donald Trump is canceling these interviews is when he starts to stumble, he starts to pivot,” she said, noting how Trump avoids policy discussions when he falters. “He wants to talk about you. He’ll start attacking you, Laura, instead of talking about policy issues because he can’t recall what they are.”
Manigault Newman emphasized how Trump’s inability to articulate positions on critical issues such as the economy, crime, and immigration has become glaring.: “He cannot repeat consistently his position on key issues… and that’s what you’re seeing in his decline right now.”
Reflecting on her time with Trump, she noted a stark contrast between his cognitive abilities during their Apprentice days and his time in office.
“Donald could come up with these very complicated figures,” she recalled, but by 2017, “Donald was unable to recall basic figures. He would forget the names of his Cabinet members.”
In her 2018 book, she detailed further lapses, including a 2017 interview where Trump “rambled” and “spoke gibberish.” Now, Manigault Newman says the decline is undeniable.
The former aide also detailed how Trump “dictated” medical records and dared journalists to ask his campaign about an alleged heart illness.
“Let’s recall that Donald Trump dictated the letters that went out about his medical history, but doctors weren’t free to write what they want,” she said.
Coates pressed that the doctors were “free to write what was really seen in those evaluations,” but the guest denied it.
Manigault Newman said: “Donald Trump dictated if for every single doctor from his original doctrine, 2015 to [medical advisor] Ronny Jackson to the doctors that came on after that. The one thing about Donald Trump is that you will never see the truth about his weight, about his health.”
She continued: “I think that reporters should start asking different questions, very specific questions. I think they should ask about his health in terms of his heart. They should ask has Donald Trump ever had any issues with, for instance, has he ever had a stint. I think a journalist should ask that and see if they’ll answer the true question… but the truth is that they’ve been covering things up and they have not been forthright with this country and the nation needs to know what his true health status is.”
Manigault Newman, who was fired by then-Chief of Staff John Kelly in late 2017, has since distanced herself politically and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week, telling Coates she wouldn’t vote for Trump “in a million years.”
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