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:
