美国国家公共电台 NPR Omarosa Tells NPR She Heard Trump 'N-Word Tape,' Contradicting Her Own Tell-All Book

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

There's a growing genre¹ of Trump²-era books that exist on the line between incredible and unbelievable. The newest entry is "Unhinged" by Omarosa Manigault-Newman. She went from breakout star of the first season of "The Apprentice³" to senior White House aide. Now she is making explosive claims about her former friend and boss President Trump. But as NPR's Tamara Keith reports, a key claim in the book may be thrown into doubt by an interview the author did this morning with NPR.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE⁴: Manigault-Newman sat down with NPR's Rachel Martin for an interview that was supposed to air Monday on Morning Edition. But an exchange from that interview is both newsworthy and potentially damaging to a central part of the narrative⁵ Manigault-Newman weaves in her book. "Unhinged" starts and ends with Manigault-Newman's hunt for what she calls the N-word tape. On the eve of the election, rumors⁶ swirled⁷ that there were recordings⁸ from the set of "The Apprentice" where Donald Trump used the racial slur⁹. A producer from "The Apprentice" named Bill Pruitt said in an interview that the audio existed, though to this day it hasn't surfaced.

In the book, Manigault-Newman claims that she was forced to resign because she had gotten close to finding the tape. And the book ends with this - a call she made months after leaving the White House to someone who worked on "The Apprentice." Here she is reading the key sentence.

OMAROSA MANIGAULT-NEWMAN: (Reading) On this phone conversation, I was told exactly what Donald Trump said. Yes, the N-word and others in a classic Trump-goes-nuclear rant¹⁰.

KEITH: This seems pretty clear. She didn't hear the tape but was told what was on it. But that's not what she said in her interview with Morning Edition.

MANIGAULT-NEWMAN: And once I heard it...

RACHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: You heard - you have heard this tape?

MANIGAULT-NEWMAN: I heard this tape.

MARTIN: You heard the president of the United States...

MANIGAULT-NEWMAN: I heard the president of the United States use not only the N-word, but as Bill Pruitt described during that interview, other horrible things during the production of "The Apprentice."

MARTIN: You don't mention that in the book, that you've actually heard the tape. Is this new?

MANIGAULT-NEWMAN: Oh, no, it's mentioned in the book.

KEITH: But what Manigault-Newman points to is that section she just read about the phone call. In the interview, Rachel Martin presses her to clear up the discrepancy¹¹.

MARTIN: Forgive me, though. That sounds like you just heard his account of the tape. Did you actually hear the tape?

MANIGAULT-NEWMAN: I did. Did you miss this whole - girl, did you read my book?

KEITH: She did read the book. So did I. It's not there. In the book, Manigault-Newman makes many claims about President Trump and others in the White House that would be shocking if true - that he has dementia, that he referred to people of color as those people, that he wanted to be sworn in on a copy of his book "The Art Of The Deal" rather than the Bible. There's a lot.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders put out a statement that says in part, quote, "this book is riddled¹² with lies and false accusations¹³. It's sad that a disgruntled former White House employee is trying to profit off these false attacks and, even worse, that the media would now give her a platform after not taking her seriously when she had only positive things to say about the president during her time in the administration," unquote. Those days are clearly over.

MANIGAULT-NEWMAN: Donald J. Trump is not only a racist¹⁴ but a misogynist¹⁵ and a bigot.

KEITH: Manigault-Newman told NPR it was hard to see those things when she was part of Trump's orbit.

MANIGAULT-NEWMAN: But the things that I heard come out of this man's mouth on the tape that I describe in this book - it completely shattered my belief in him being a decent person.

KEITH: But a big question now hangs over it all. Did she actually hear the tape as she claims now, or did she simply hear a description of it as she says in her book "Unhinged"? Tamara Keith, NPR News.

1 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

6 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 swirled   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The waves swirled and eddied around the rocks. 波浪翻滚着在岩石周围打旋。
• The water swirled down the drain. 水打着旋流进了下水道。

8 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

9 slur   

v.含糊地说；诋毁；连唱；n.诋毁；含糊的发音

参考例句：

• He took the remarks as a slur on his reputation.他把这些话当作是对他的名誉的中伤。
• The drug made her speak with a slur.药物使她口齿不清。

10 rant   

v.咆哮；怒吼；n.大话；粗野的话

参考例句：

• You can rant and rave at the fine,but you'll still have to pay it.你闹也好，骂也好，罚金还是得交。
• If we rant on the net,the world is our audience.如果我们在网络上大声嚷嚷，全世界都是我们的听众。

11 discrepancy   

n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾

参考例句：

• The discrepancy in their ages seemed not to matter.他们之间年龄的差异似乎没有多大关系。
• There was a discrepancy in the two reports of the accident.关于那次事故的两则报道有不一致之处。

12 riddled   

adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式)

参考例句：

• The beams are riddled with woodworm. 这些木梁被蛀虫蛀得都是洞。
• The bodies of the hostages were found riddled with bullets. 在人质的尸体上发现了很多弹孔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

14 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

15 misogynist   

n.厌恶女人的人

参考例句：

• He quickly gained the reputation of being a misogynist.他很快地赢得了“厌恶女性者”的这一名声。
• Nice try,but you're a misanthrope,not a misogynist.不错了，你讨厌的是世界，不是女人。