It only took a few minutes for the appearance onstage of White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman at the convention of the National Association of Black Journalists to get tense, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Manigault-Newman got into a heated exchange with Ed Gordon, panel moderator and host of BET's "Weekly." It began when the name of President Donald Trump was mentioned.
"If you want to talk about Donald Trump, have a problem with Donald Trump," Manigault-Newman said. "I'm not going to stand here and defend every single word and decision."
"No, I'm asking you about Donald Trump," Gordon said. "I'm not going to let you railroad this."
The panel was focusing on police brutality and family members of black men killed by police. Manigault-Newman, a former reality star on Trump's TV show "The Apprentice," began by telling the story of the loss of her father and brother to violence in Youngstown, Ohio.
She maintained she uses her White House position to bring people together to discuss policy.
"I fight on the front lines every day," Manigault-Newman said. "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu."
"Are you suggesting that I just walk away?" she asked when audience members seemed surprised.
When Gordon turned to the topic of Trump, Manigault-Newman objected.
"You immediately go to Donald Trump!" Manigault-Newman shot back, later suggesting Gordon was trying to "walk all over" her.
Then Trump's voice blasted through loudspeakers and his face flashed on two large screens, the article explained. A video of the president speaking to police officers last month on Long Island followed as Trump suggested, "please don't be too nice," when putting suspects into patrol cars.
While Manigault-Newman admitted Trump's remarks were not appropriate, she also took civil rights activists to task for refusing to meet with the president. She maintained she was working on the issue of police brutality in the Trump administration.
"It's on the front burner because I'm pushing the issue and raising the issue," she said.
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