Federal Judge Richard Leon of the DC District Court ruled former Trump administration official Omarosa Manigault Newman must pay $61,585, ruling that she failed to comply with federal ethics requirements.
CNN reports the lawsuit was brought against Manigault Newman and former President Donald Trump by the Justice Department. The judge found Manigault Newman failed to file financial disclosures when she left her government job.
Manigault Newman
served as the director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison in the White House. However, after less than a year in the position, President Trump fired her. According to multiple reports, administration attorneys reminded her several times that she did not file her financial disclosures after leaving the White House.Manigault Newman claimed the White House had her last day wrong and held hostage boxes of her belongings and other items she had in her office. However, Leon found Manigault Newman liable for the maximum $50,000 civil penalty plus inflation.
“Manigault Newman willfully violated the [Ethics in Government Act],” Leon wrote in a 15-page opinion. The judge noted Manigault Newman was “well aware of her obligation” to make her final disclosures and had “received countless reminders.”
“This conduct establishes a willful violation,” the judge added.
Leon also determined that Manigault Newman, one of the most notable figures in the Trump administration and a former contestant on Trump’s show, The Apprentice
, has ample funds to pay the fine considering she made more than $100,000 during her time in the White House and is a partial beneficiary of a million-dollar trust.Since leaving the administration, Manigault Newman has constantly attacked the former president, calling him racist and publishing a book, Unhinged, about her time in the administration.
After the ruling, Omarosa attacked Trump again on Twitter.
“The question remains… are there two systems of justice in this country. One that allows those who violate the Hatch Act and Emoluments Clause a slap on wrist and the other that orders an unprecedented fine (highest in history) for an alleged unintentional failing to file a form?” Manigault Newman wrote.