Omarosa gets into trouble at the White House over wedding photo shoot

One Saturday in early April, Omarosa Manigault caused a stir in the White House.

The "Apprentice" villain turned senior White House official brought members of her 39-person bridal party to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for an extended wedding photo shoot, catching fellow senior aides and some security officials by surprise in her bridal attire. The visitors loudly wandered around, looking to snap photos in the Rose Garden and throughout the West Wing, according to four current and former White House officials.

While it’s unclear whether she received formal permission for the photo shoot, at least some lawyers and other senior aides were not briefed in advance, the officials said. They quickly banned Manigault, director of communications for the Office of the Public Liaison, from posting the pictures online, citing security and ethical concerns.

The incident — which created buzz in the West Wing for weeks — did little to help the reputation of the Office of Public Liaison, seen by some White House officials as one of the most unruly and under-utilized operations in the West Wing, according to eight current and former White House officials and advisers.

The office has floundered for months, these people say, and has drawn particular scrutiny from Chief of Staff John Kelly, who has asked for changes.

Read more: Omarosa's West Wing bridal adventure highlights broader dysfunction

Omarosa Manigault: Blacks not trying hard enough to work with Trump

Here's another example of Omarosa's and the Trump administrations tone deafness to the black community. They don't seem to get that the onus is in them to earn the trust and respect of the community through THEIR actions and not the other way around. Refusing to enforce consent decrees, cuts to education and HBCUs, attacks on healthcare (ACA), Jeff Sessions appointment as Attorney General, talking about making stop and frisk the law of the land, not doing anything about discriminatory voter ID laws, and cutting environmental protections don't give the impression that the Trump administration wants to work with African Americans. George Cook AfricanAmericanReports.

President Donald Trump's liaison to the black community, the former "Apprentice" star Omarosa Manigault, says African-American activists aren't trying hard enough to work with the new administration.

The White House aide delivered the pointed message in an interview with The Associated Press in advance of an appearance Thursday at the annual convention of an activist organization founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

"We're here waiting, willing to work with the community," Manigault said when asked about Trump's moves to slash programs that benefit minorities. "This president wants to engage. It's not a one-way street."

She was more measured Thursday afternoon as she faced hundreds of black activists, who, like African-American voters across the nation last fall, overwhelmingly opposed Trump's presidency.

Several participants refused to utter the president's name in convention sessions, referring to the 45th president only by the number 45. Trump got just 8 percent of the African-American vote last November, according to exit polls.

"I'm ready," Manigault told the crowd as some murmured their disapproval. "I know what I came into, and I ain't never scared."

She insisted she's spent her first 100 days in Washington fighting for the black community. She noted that Trump has met personally with the Congressional Black Caucus and the presidents of historically black colleges and universities.

Manigault called on black leaders to help the struggling institutions as well.

"As I fight for you from the White House, I need you to fight on the outside," she said from the podium of a Manhattan hotel ballroom.

Read more: Trump Aide: Blacks not trying hard enough to work with Trump