CNN political commentator Angela Rye has built a following with her willingness to clap back, and she did just that when she confronted Donald Trump aide Omarosa Manigult-Newman at the National Action Network’s women’s power luncheon in New York City on Thursday. Video of the confrontation surfaced this weekend, and she spoke about the incident on the Breakfast Club.
Rye has become a recurring guest for commentary during the Trump presidency. She insisted that she didn’t confront Omarosa physically, but that she had to use her time on the microphone to call out the former contestant from “The Apprentice” for her support of Trump.
“[Omarosa] bragged about being a member of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Action Network. She talked about fighting for black people in the White House, all these great things she’s doing for HBCUs. It was lie after lie,” Rye said. “…I just started taking notes, like she’s just going to keep lying? We fact check around here!”
“We know that Omarosa and Trump and his friends aren’t fighting for black people,” she continued. “We know that they asked us what the hell do we have to lose during the campaign, and we know this isn’t a new trajectory for him. He’s always had a treacherous relationship with the black community. I just wanted to make sure that I saw my people – I was feeling their energy, and I knew that wasn’t it.”
For the rest of Rye’s Breakfast Club appearance, she spoke about Trump’s first 100 days as president and Fox’s ousting of Bill O’Reilly under sexual harassment allegations.
Rye said that Al Sharpton also called out Omarosa, so she had left the luncheon before Rye hit the stage. But she’s sure that Omarosa saw the video “once or twice, or seven times.”
Rye was at the luncheon to accept an award from the National Action Network, while Omarosa was there as a speaker. Omarosa spoke about HBCUs, the Small Business Administration, and looking for ways to stop violence in Chicago and St. Louis, while saying that she would “fight for you in the White House.” Rye used the mic time for her acceptance speech to call out Omarosa and Trump.
“The truth is, when you tell somebody you’re going to fight for them, I’m going to tell you how not to fight for them,” Rye said. “You don’t fight for them by putting forth a tax reform plan that cuts corporate tax rates but ignores the poor. You don’t fight for them by cutting taxes for the rich, and ensuring that burden is going to be on the backs of the poor and ordinary black and brown people.”
She also brought up Trump’s history of racially inflammatory remarks and litigation. He demanded the death penalty for the Central Park Five, a group of five black men who were accused of raping and killing a white woman before DNA evidence proved their innocence. Trump and his real estate mogul father were also the subject of several civil rights lawsuits for discriminating against black tenants, and Trump alleged for years that President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States.