Omarosa Should Face Charges

 

On Sunday morning, former White House official and reality star Omarosa dropped a bombshell:

I have a lot of questions about this recording, and here they are, in no particular order:

  1. What was she even doing in the Situation Room?
  2. Does anyone know what her job actually was? (This is a great profile on her time in the White House)
  3. This is illegal, right? There is no way this is not illegal.
  4. Why would she admit to breaking federal law on Meet the Press in order to sell copies of her book?
  5. How did she have a recording device in the room?
  6. If she used a cell phone, do we know if foreign governments or organizations were able to listen in as well?
  7. Who is in charge of security for the Situation Room? Will they face consequences for this breach?
  8. Is there any way to verify this was indeed recorded in the Situation Room?
  9. Will everyone (justifiably) upset about the casual disregard Hillary Clinton showed for security with her email server demand an inquiry?

This is an incredibly troubling sign from a White House marked by disarray and disorganization. It’s been hoped that despite the constant upheaval, there are officials within the military and security establishment upholding standards to ensure something like this incident never takes place. This isn’t a reality show, and there were supposed to be individuals (even if they aren’t the President and his staff) who were responsible for maintaining a level of professionalism required of the executive branch.

A very clear message needs to be sent in response to this announcement: Heads should roll among those responsible for staffing and security the White House and Situation Room, and charges should be filed against Omarosa. The White House isn’t a reality show, and you don’t get to flagrantly break federal law in order to sell a few more copies of a book.

 

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  1. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Stad (View Comment):

    Could Be Anyone (View Comment):
    Pretty clear that this is a result of Trump’s amateurishness in leadership (ability to prioritize, inquisitiveness, and disposition to command), as others have noted.

    Perhaps Trump relies on others to recommend people, but they turn out to be jerks. The fact he fires them shows he knows what he’s doing. OTOH, he should vet these people with as much vigor as he’s vetting the illegals crossing the border . . .

    She’s a product of Trump’s reality TV venture, so he should have known what he was getting.  Amidst the wealth of jumping to conclusions on this, it seems pretty clear that giving her a position in the White House wasn’t a great idea.

    • #31
  2. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    Stad (View Comment):

    Could Be Anyone (View Comment):
    Pretty clear that this is a result of Trump’s amateurishness in leadership (ability to prioritize, inquisitiveness, and disposition to command), as others have noted.

    Perhaps Trump relies on others to recommend people, but they turn out to be jerks. The fact he fires them shows he knows what he’s doing. OTOH, he should vet these people with as much vigor as he’s vetting the illegals crossing the border . . .

    Who pray tell recommended Trump hire a former contestant on his reality tv show who also worked for him post tv fame?

    • #32
  3. Could Be Anyone Inactive
    Could Be Anyone
    @CouldBeAnyone

    Stad (View Comment):
    Perhaps Trump relies on others to recommend people, but they turn out to be jerks. The fact he fires them shows he knows what he’s doing

    According to the recording from Omorosa it seems like John Kelly is in control of firing staff.  As previous examples like Bannon, Manafort, and Scaramucci have shown Trump does not seem to care too much about the details when people are hired onto his staff. He did not have a loyal and experienced staff during the primary or general campaigns and he didn’t start with one in the White House.

    Its quite interesting, to say the least, that some people do not want to admit to this laziness on Trump’s part in hiring staff. There is only so much time in the day and Trump usually puts it to tweets, campaign rallies, and obsessing over the mainstream media.

    • #33
  4. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    Could Be Anyone (View Comment):
    There is only so much time in the day and Trump usually puts it to tweets, campaign rallies, and obsessing over the mainstream media.

    To be fair, he has to deal with the MSM daily. Why, this coming Thursday they are coordinating a campaign (in the spirit of Journolist) to print anti-Trump editorials in at least 100 papers.

    It took Omarosa a year to write a book. She is actually low threat.

    • #34
  5. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Instugator (View Comment):

    It took Omarosa a year to write a book. She is actually low threat. 

    Investigating this incident (hello, FBI) would be one way to get out in front of the book.  Omarosa has made some representations that expose her to a degree of jeopardy, and those can be checked out.  If she lied (or “exaggerated”), the Administration should want that out there.

    • #35
  6. Could Be Anyone Inactive
    Could Be Anyone
    @CouldBeAnyone

    Instugator (View Comment):

    To be fair, he has to deal with the MSM daily. Why, this coming Thursday they are coordinating a campaign (in the spirit of Journolist) to print anti-Trump editorials in at least 100 papers.

    What divisions does the MSM command? It is typed both here on Ricochet and by trump supporting/friendly pundits that the MSM have been losing or have lost all credibility already and thus are not even a threat. So if they don’t actually pose a threat why does Trump obsess about them? Is he that insecure? I hope not.

    It took Omarosa a year to write a book. She is actually low threat.

    I haven’t read the book so I don’t know the details. But even if it did take a year what if it has accurate and salacious details that paint a sad picture of the administration? It could and the fact that she recorded at least one meeting and had it played on national television could mean she has more primary evidence to use.

    But as I typed before the real question is whether there were other staff in the White House recording meetings at will for their own uses or another party’s. That is a literal matter of national security.

    • #36
  7. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    Does anyone else wonder why so many Trump associates feel the need to record conversations? It’s…weird right?

    • #37
  8. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Jamie Lockett (View Comment):

    Does anyone else wonder why so many Trump associates feel the need to record conversations? It’s…weird right?

    I believe it goes more to the “character issue” of those recording than any atmosphere of paranoia engendered by Trump.  Still, the former raises questions about Trump’s appointment process.  I doubt, however, that General Kelly, for example, has a personal hard drive loaded with recorded conversations.

    • #38
  9. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    Could Be Anyone (View Comment):
    What divisions does the MSM command?

    Lots of news divisions the Three-letter MSM- plus the Associated (with Terrorists) Press, not to mention the Beeb and Reuters.

    Approximately 50% percent of all Americans get their news from TV.

    • #39
  10. toggle Inactive
    toggle
    @toggle

    Could Be Anyone (View Comment):
    So if they don’t actually pose a threat why does Trump obsess about them? Is he that insecure? I hope not.

    Their threat is countered by push-back. He is the first POTUS with an R who has done it. They have made it a part the job.

    The threat they pose (leftist tyranny) has gained ground because his predecessors wouldn’t push back. He does. If eventually they do not “actually pose a threat” it’s not from the lack of push-back, but from more of it. And he appears to be well suited for that job.

    • #40
  11. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

    If a third-rate reality “star” can secretly record conversations inside the freakin’ White House, one has to wonder how many foreign spies are doing far worse. 

    • #41
  12. blood thirsty neocon Inactive
    blood thirsty neocon
    @bloodthirstyneocon

    She’ll get away with it, because of her race.

    • #42
  13. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    If a third-rate reality “star” can secretly record conversations inside the freakin’ White House, one has to wonder how many foreign spies are doing far worse.

    Actually, no.  If one has any inclination towards established facts, one might wonder what the h*** you’re talking about.  Not that you’d ever respond.

    • #43
  14. Could Be Anyone Inactive
    Could Be Anyone
    @CouldBeAnyone

    Instugator (View Comment):

    Could Be Anyone (View Comment):
    What divisions does the MSM command?

    Lots of news divisions the Three-letter MSM- plus the Associated (with Terrorists) Press, not to mention the Beeb and Reuters.

    Approximately 50% percent of all Americans get their news from TV.

    1) What is your source for that 50% statistic?

    2) 50% of people watching tv news does not mean that all tv stations have opposing coverage of the President.

    3) Watching mainstream media does not make one a leftist. I grew up watching CBS and can never remember being of a left-wing political orientation.

    4) Is there a link between watching certain news and voting or does your voting affect what news you watch?

    5) When did the press become terrorists?

    You have presented little evidence to corroborate your claim that the MSM is a threat to Trump. Especially so if he is the great communicator that many allege him to be.

    • #44
  15. Could Be Anyone Inactive
    Could Be Anyone
    @CouldBeAnyone

    toggle (View Comment):

    Their threat is countered by push-back. He is the first POTUS with an R who has done it. They have made it a part the job.

    What is their threat? How is Trump “pushing back” exactly? How have the MSM made it their job to be this threat?

    The threat they pose (leftist tyranny) has gained ground because his predecessors wouldn’t push back.

    How does the MSM pose the possibility of creating tyranny again?

    He does. If eventually they do not “actually pose a threat” it’s not from the lack of push-back, but from more of it. And he appears to be well suited for that job.

    So you assume the MSM to automatically possess a threat to create tyranny then? How do? By what metric is Trump “pushing back” and what metrics measure his success in that? Lot of unspoken assumptions in all of this.

    • #45
  16. toggle Inactive
    toggle
    @toggle

    Well, we’ll go back to “this war is lost” when it wasn’t–i.e. fake news.

    The threat is leftist tyranny which the MSM pushes–i.e. normalizing deviancy. 

    The push-back is Twitter.

    And they have made it his job because their reporting on jobs and 4.1 growth is the elephant in the room.

    They represent sexual dysfunction as the norm, Hillary did nothing wrong, and Russia penetrated the last election.

    Hands up was a lie. And what have you heard about Venezuela ? And Nicaragua ? And the recent vote in Argentina ? Melania not holding his hand is more important ! Or, the shoes she wears.

    Please give us poor deplorables a break–tolerance for our ignorance.

    His next tweet will be their bigger obsession than the Holy Fire.

    Do you really believe MSM is fair and balanced ? The leftist agenda they regurgitate is good for our country ?

    • #46
  17. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Instugator (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    If She and Trump where the only 2 people present, then recording in the situation room wouldn’t be any worse than recording anywhere else in the white house.

    No, there are rules regarding unauthorized devices in rooms where classified information is processed.

    That being said, there is only reportage regarding the location – no other evidence yet.

    Sounds to me like she was being let off easy (the firing by John Kelly) and she chooses to go another way.

    You make good points. If I managed a secured information facility I would have everyone check personal phones/devices at the door.

    But maybe in the “modern” world that is unreasonable.

    • #47
  18. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    You’d almost think some see any post brushing up against Trump as an excuse for hyperbolic attacks on the man, regardless of the subject. #1 in the O/P is pretty clearly the correct response, but Trump bringing her into the White House is decidedly different from assuming that he personnally gave her access to the Situation Room (assuming she’s even telling the truth, which I doubt).

    You’re right, of course.  Trump hiring a contestant from his reality show whose qualification was … being a contestant on his reality show played no role in this.  

    The President, of course, is not ultimately responsible for what goes on in his own White House. It’s not a sign of incompetence or mismanagement.  He’s just a plastic bag blowing in the wind.

    • #48
  19. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

    TBA (View Comment):
    With respect, you might consider an alternate take; that the penalties for spying/leaking/general betrayal of government secrets have been serially tested since the cold war and no one believes there will be consequences any more.

    If anyone thinks that and acts on it, they’re a fool.

    There’s plenty of cases in the last decade where the book was thrown at people for that.

    • #49
  20. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    You’d almost think some see any post brushing up against Trump as an excuse for hyperbolic attacks on the man, regardless of the subject. #1 in the O/P is pretty clearly the correct response, but Trump bringing her into the White House is decidedly different from assuming that he personnally gave her access to the Situation Room (assuming she’s even telling the truth, which I doubt).

    You’re right, of course. Trump hiring a contestant from his reality show whose qualification was … being a contestant on his reality show played no role in this.

    The President, of course, is not ultimately responsible for what goes on in his own White House. It’s not a sign of incompetence or mismanagement. He’s just a plastic bag blowing in the wind.

    Let’s go to the videotape to see the post (#5, above) that I was responding to since, for some odd reason, it was clipped from the above.

    Seriously, everything about the situation indicates a collosal management failure. You’d almost think the President has no idea what he’s doing. You’d almost think the man was wholly unfit for the job. 

    So . . . colossal management failure . . . wholly unfit for the job.  And all of that generated in response to a single incident perpetrated by, and characterized by, someone else outside of Trump’s presence.  Did I say hyperbolic already?

    • #50
  21. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    If I managed a secured information facility I would have everyone check personal phones/devices at the door.

    Everyone does this. The problem arises when the person answers back with, “I left it in the car” or other answer. I have yet to be subject to a pat down entering such a room. The warning and consequences are enough of a deterrent for most people. 

    • #51
  22. RoyNonaka Inactive
    RoyNonaka
    @RoyNonaka

    “The Situation Room is smaller than I imagined.”

    “It’s small but vitally important, Ms Omarosa.”

    “And why are there so many brooms and cleaning supplies on the shelves?”

    “We are prepared for any situation in the Situation Room.”

    • #52
  23. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    So . . . colossal management failure . . . wholly unfit for the job. And all of that generated in response to a single incident perpetrated by, and characterized by, someone else outside of Trump’s presence. Did I say hyperbolic already?

    You’re right.  This is a single incident.  It’s not just the latest in a long line of train wrecks in the area of personnel and management.  It’s not as if there’s been a series of high profile resignations and firings associated with the Trump administration and Trump White House.

     

    • #53
  24. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    You’d almost think some see any post brushing up against Trump as an excuse for hyperbolic attacks on the man, regardless of the subject. #1 in the O/P is pretty clearly the correct response, but Trump bringing her into the White House is decidedly different from assuming that he personnally gave her access to the Situation Room (assuming she’s even telling the truth, which I doubt).

    You’re right, of course. Trump hiring a contestant from his reality show whose qualification was … being a contestant on his reality show played no role in this.

    The President, of course, is not ultimately responsible for what goes on in his own White House. It’s not a sign of incompetence or mismanagement. He’s just a plastic bag blowing in the wind.

    Let’s go to the videotape to see the post (#5, above) that I was responding to since, for some odd reason, it was clipped from the above.

    Seriously, everything about the situation indicates a collosal management failure. You’d almost think the President has no idea what he’s doing. You’d almost think the man was wholly unfit for the job.

    So . . . colossal management failure . . . wholly unfit for the job. And all of that generated in response to a single incident perpetrated by, and characterized by, someone else outside of Trump’s presence. Did I say hyperbolic already?

    There is no other evidence of management failure and unfitness? None?

    • #54
  25. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    I dont think I ever heard … What exactly was her job tittle in the White House?

     

    • #55
  26. Buckpasser Member
    Buckpasser
    @Buckpasser

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    If a third-rate reality “star” can secretly record conversations inside the freakin’ White House, one has to wonder how many foreign spies are doing far worse.

    Perhaps you could ask Dianne Feinstein about that.

    • #56
  27. Chris Campion Coolidge
    Chris Campion
    @ChrisCampion

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    He real crime here is how badly the White House is being mismanaged.

    Seriously, everything about the situation indicates a collosal management failure. You’d almost think the President has no idea what he’s doing. You’d almost think the man was wholly unfit for the job.

    As opposed to doubling the national debt in 8 years.  You’d think that “man” was wholly unfit for the job.

    If you were any good at math, that is.

    • #57
  28. Chris Campion Coolidge
    Chris Campion
    @ChrisCampion

    Could Be Anyone (View Comment):

    Pretty clear that this is a result of Trump’s amateurishness in leadership (ability to prioritize, inquisitiveness, and disposition to command), as others have noted. He never displayed much before and so naturally attracted and picked a number of bad staff members. Fortunately many have been fired—like Bannon, Scaramucci, and Omorosa.

    But one does wonder if more skeletons will come out and whether they will hurt Trump and the GOP. It is the price one pays when you pick a candidate like Trump and his term, costs and benefits, is not over yet. If Omorosa could sneak in recording devices could someone else have before this recent revelation? That would be quite a cost.

    I wonder if he has secret, non-secure servers out there, somewhere, like in NY, maybe Trump Tower, where he’s been sharing classified information to people who somehow have his secret userid, and they use that to correspond with him, secretly.

    Because that seems like that would really be bad, and get you disqualified for a presidency, or any other public office, or any position in the federal government that has even the lowest levels of security clearance.

    I mean, it certainly seems like that would be bad.

    • #58
  29. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    So . . . colossal management failure . . . wholly unfit for the job. And all of that generated in response to a single incident perpetrated by, and characterized by, someone else outside of Trump’s presence. Did I say hyperbolic already?

    You’re right. This is a single incident. It’s not just the latest in a long line of train wrecks in the area of personnel and management. It’s not as if there’s been a series of high profile resignations and firings associated with the Trump administration and Trump White House.

    No, you’re right.  When someone says “everything about the situation . . .” in a thread about a single situation, I should not jump to the conclusion that they’re actually talking about a single incident under discussion.  Silly me.

    • #59
  30. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Jamie Lockett (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    You’d almost think some see any post brushing up against Trump as an excuse for hyperbolic attacks on the man, regardless of the subject. #1 in the O/P is pretty clearly the correct response, but Trump bringing her into the White House is decidedly different from assuming that he personnally gave her access to the Situation Room (assuming she’s even telling the truth, which I doubt).

    You’re right, of course. Trump hiring a contestant from his reality show whose qualification was … being a contestant on his reality show played no role in this.

    The President, of course, is not ultimately responsible for what goes on in his own White House. It’s not a sign of incompetence or mismanagement. He’s just a plastic bag blowing in the wind.

    Let’s go to the videotape to see the post (#5, above) that I was responding to since, for some odd reason, it was clipped from the above.

    Seriously, everything about the situation indicates a collosal management failure. You’d almost think the President has no idea what he’s doing. You’d almost think the man was wholly unfit for the job.

    So . . . colossal management failure . . . wholly unfit for the job. And all of that generated in response to a single incident perpetrated by, and characterized by, someone else outside of Trump’s presence. Did I say hyperbolic already?

    There is no other evidence of management failure and unfitness? None?

    Not the issue here. See #59 above, despite Mr. Cole’s best efforts at moving the goal posts.

    • #60
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