Former ‘Apprentice’ star leaving White House post

Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former reality TV star who followed President Donald Trump into national politics, has resigned from her White House post as director of communications for the office of public liaison.

“Omarosa Manigault Newman resigned yesterday to pursue other opportunities. Her departure will not be effective until Jan. 20, 2018. We wish her the best in future endeavors and are grateful for her service,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote in an email.

Manigault Newman was one of few high-profile African-Americans to support Trump during his campaign last year and was one of the most visible black aides in his administration.

But her role in the administration was unclear. She struggled to help Trump build a relationship with African-Americans, who have consistently given the president low approval ratings. Manigault Newman also frequently clashed with her colleagues inside the White House, reportedly using her longtime friendship with Trump to ignore the chain of command.

Manigault Newman became a breakout star in the first season of Trump’s “Apprentice” franchise by playing the role of a backbiting villain who would knee-cap other contestants in her quest to win. She did not take the top prize, but she became a favorite of Trump, who invited her to participate in subsequent iterations of the show.

She brought that same confrontational persona to the political arena, fiercely defending Trump against accusations that he was racist and sexist.

During the campaign last year, she elicited ire and eye-rolls when she predicted in an interview on “Frontline” that Trump would win and that “every critic, every detractor will have to bow down to President Trump.”

During the past several months of Trump’s administration, she has engaged in public spats with African-American groups, including the Congressional Black Caucus, grassroots activists and black journalists. She also was criticized for promising that Trump would provide additional funding to struggling historically black colleges and universities. But after a highly publicized meeting with administration officials last February, the most that came out of the trip to Washington was a photo of the presidents of those institutions with Trump in the Oval Office.