Exchange in a moment. But first, lets just review how we got to that moment. On cbs this morning, Omarosa Omarosa continued her book tour, talking about another recording she made. Its reportedly a Conference Call from october of 2016 about the possible existence of a tape of the president using the n word during his time on the apprentice. Newman is on the call. So is Katrina Pearson as well as lynne patton who was an assistant to eric trump at the time. She joins us shortly tonight. On the call, there is talk of damage control and whether mr. Trump ever used the racial slur. Patton is heard she asked mr. Trump about using the n word and he said no. Later patton says this. He said it. Hes embarrassed. Reporter last night Katrina Pearson denied the phone call happened. Today she is saying he said it as a way to appease Manigault Newman and get her off the phone. Barely 30 minutes after the story hit, the president responded on twitter. When you give a crazed crying low life a break and give her a job at the white house, i guess it doesnt work out. Good work by general kelly for quick leg firing that dog. This is in the latest of tweets about Manigault Newman. Once again Sarah Sanders was asked about the president s language, particularly when its African Americans he is criticizing. Heres a logistic at what she said. The president has absolutely nothing to do with race and everything to do with the president calling out someones lack of integrity. The idea that you would only point a few of the things that the president has said negative about people that are minorities, the fact is the president s an equal opportunity person that calls things like he sees it. He always fights fire with fire, and he certainly doesnt hold back on doing that across the board. Now, whatever you think of that answer, just take a moment to consider. This under ordinary circumstances, the president calling a former high level adviser, an African American woman a dog might be material enough for a press briefing. But there was a lot more today, and i want to play for it for you, as well as the questions leading up to it. Sarah, have you asked the president if hes ever used the n word. The president addressed that question directly via twitter. Id refer the question back to him. Ive never heard him. Have you asked him directly . The president , i didnt have to because he addressed to it northwestern people all at one time. Why haven you asked him directly . Again, the president answered that question directly on twitter earlier today. Kirks you stand at the podium and guarantee the American People theyll never hear donald trump utter the n word on a recording in any context . I cant guarantee anything, but i can tell you that the president addressed this question directly. I can tell you that ive never heard it. I cant guarantee anything, she said. But shes never heard it, which again is odd, because the president just last night said he could. At mark burnett tv called to say there are no tapes at the apprentice where i used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed to wacky and deranged omarosa. I dont have that word in my vocabulary and never have. She made it up. Not in his vocabulary, he says, not ever. The president s tweets seem definitive, at least definitive enough for the press secretary to give the kind of statement likes these shes repeated for past president ial tweets. I would say that his tweet speaks for itself there. I think the president s statement via twitter today is extremely clear. I dont have anything to ad beyond the statement itself. I think that statement speaks for itself. There is nothing to add. She could have said that today, and she did. No perhaps that speaks for her and for herself. More now from the white house. Cnns jeff zeleny joins us for that. Its interesting for all the times Sarah Sanders has been willing to essentially stick her neck out for president with a full stop answer, she didnt do that this time. She didnt, anderson that was one of the surprising things to me, at least. Repeatedly asked again and again about this, she said the same answer. I cant guarantee that she knew of course that would be the headline coming out of this, that she cant guarantee it. Think of all the radio introduce, thousands and thousands of radio interviews the president has done. All the recordings he has done going the apprentice, other things, there could be a tape some where. Traps thats what she wassing my thig wh thinking when she said i cant guarantee it. It was curious, at least, in that regard. Jeff, the white house still saying the president s description of Manigault Newman as a dog is much ado about nothing . They are indeed. You heard Sarah Sanders say it there. He is happy to insult anyone. He is happy to insult anyone of any race who he doesnt agree with. She said the president agrees she lax integrity. Keep in mind, of course, he hired her. He brought her on here in the first place. Hes been a listeningtime friend of hers. But reality is the white house repeatedly said its not racist. Only the president knows whats in his heart when he said that. He has called numerous people dogs repeatedly. There is a long list of former rivals, dogs, other things. But never as a sitting president has he called a former staffer, certainly a former African American high reigning staffer here a dog. Thats what he called omarosa, of course, this morning. And i understand that Manigault Newman is explaining she was interviewed special counsel robert mueller. Do we know thats true . We have her word on that, and thats the only word because the special counsel is the only person in this town who has not commented on this case. We do know at least talking to white house officials here that while she was at least at the white house, she was not interviewed, she was not asked to sit down with him. But of course she was fired last december. So she writes in her book that she was contacted by the fbi in february of 2018. After that, if she sat down with him, that of course is something that she would have a record of and have an understanding of. Its hard to understand she would lie about that specifically when its so verifiable. But of course the special counsels office never comments on who they interview. So it is her word at this point. But anderson, so much of this simply is her word. Of course, a lot of unverified claims in there. But a lot of claims on tape as well. Thank you very much. I want to talk about one of the tapes. I want to talk to one of the people on the call with Omarosa Omarosa that was recorded. Lynne patton joins us now. Lynn, thank you so much for being with us. Hi, anderson. Pleasure. Nice seeing you. So lot to talk about. First of all, thank you for agreeing to be here. Yes. I want to get started with the recording that was released this morning of this phone conversation that allegedly took place that you were on the call, Katrina Pierson, back in 2016. Just for our viewers. Lets just play that. Im trying to find out at least the context if it used in to help us maybe try to figure out a way to spin it. I said well, sir, you think of any time this might have happened and he said negative, well, thats not true. He goes how do you think i should handle it . And i told him exactly what you just said, omarosa. It depends on what scenario youre talking about, and he said why dont you go ahead and put it to bed. No, he said it. Hes embarrassed. Okay. So thats the tape released. As far as you remember, is that recording accurate . Thats your voice on the tape . Well, anderson, there were a lot of times that we talked about this tape, because omarosa was literally obsessed with it. She brought up up constantly. Its clear now the reason she did is because she wasser is erupt tis secretly recording us. A friend remind me today, early on in the campaign i made a joke that she was probably recording us all. From very beginning, omarosa has always been about omarosa, and that has never been a secret to us. You said in a statement that you were probably the closest person toer in the white house, that you interacted with her pretty much on a daily basis. Yeah. What shes done is hacker. Its infuriating there are a whole bunch of adjectives i could use. Did you ever raiseoncerns about her . Because obviously anybody who has watched the apprentice or seen her on any tv show knows what she is potentially capable of. You know, lets be clear. Omarosa is an actress, and thats exactly what shes doing right now is playing a role. And quite frankly, she is playing us all. But did you ever raise concerns to people in the white house, to eric trump who you worked with or anybody in the trump family as to why has she been hired . Heres the thing. Omarosa is somebody who has always been at the center of attention. She has been willfully and deceitfully engaging in surreptitious behaviors. You said you worked more closely with her than anybody in the white house. No, no. What i said is i was probably the closest confidante she had. We texted multiple times a day. She told me what was going on at the white house. So you never raised concerns about her . But, no i did not. Okay. So in that recording i mean, i dont speak for omarosa. I speak for myself. Of course. Who this administration chooses to hire is obviously up to them. Did you think it was a mistake when you heard she had been hired . No. Not at all, not at all. Why . You say shes always been out for herself. Again, i know that omarosa, the one that i know on television has been out for herself. The one that i got to know as friend was actually a decent person. Obviously President Trump thought so. She was very close to the family at one point. But whats clear to me right now is that omarosa is obviously putting herself first. Weve been through a lot, but here she is now turning on a family that obviously embraced her and a man that gave her every opportunity. Let me ask you, because in last night, you released a statement before this recording was released, right when it was only omarosas word about this conversation. You released a statement that read in part at no time did i participate in a Conference Call with Katrina Pierson advising me, that lunts hluntz had claimd had heard president donald j. Trump use a derogatory racial term, a claim that luntz himself. Its important to be here today and clarify my statement. What i said was and what was refuted was that katrina set up a Conference Call to confirm that frank luntz said that he heard djt specifically say the n word. That never happened. What did happen, though, is that omarosa has been allowed to continue on her tour of lies without being checked by either the media or obviously her book publisher. But thats not when you made that Statement Last night, the only thing that had been released by cbs was a tweet saying that Katrina Pierson in the conversation, Katrina Pierson says okay, well, frank luntz know what it is, apparently heard it. Thats not true because omarosa then reiterated those statements on both Savannah Guthrie and chuck todd. So thats what i was disputing. What i was refuting was the fact that omarosa claimed that we confirmed that on that Conference Call that frank lunzs said this. He has obviously come out and denied it. Weve come out and denied it. What i have a hard time understanding is why you know, this administration has found itself on the defensive end against a woman who has willfully and deceitfully and surreptitiously recorded possibly engaged in illegal behavior against a family like i said that has embraced her. Yet im the one on television having to explain myself. Its like the twilight zone. Even on the way over here i heard she might be working in conjunction with robert mueller. And while i might have only gone to law school for a year, you know, i caught her myself in four lies this morning. So, you know, if the mueller team considers her a credible source of information, then their case is obviously a lot weaker than we already knew it to be. So Katrina Pierson, we hear her on the same saying he said it. Hes embarrassed about it, talking about then candidate donald trump. Im wondering when you heard that in that conversation, what did you think that Katrina Pierson meant by that . To an observer, whether you heard tonight recording or just the transcript, he said it. He is embarrassed by it. Obviously Katrina Pierson can speak for herself and she has already released a statement to that effect. She said she was trying to get off the phone. Weve all had that ajoying coworker. I think if anything what omarosas tapes prove is the president denied saying it very early on in the campaign, and that he said to it me. Right. Im the one who d you than specifically. But my only question is what we havent heard from you, weve heard from Katrina Pierson. Right. Let me just play what she said. Sure. And just play that. In the book omarosa says katrina had heard from her sources that the tape was of trump using the n word, someone she knew who knew political strategist frank luntz told her luntz had heard it. Lynne reported she asked trump about tonight plane specifically whether it was possible such a tape might exist. Then she, katrina asked him what he wanted their do. He said put it to bed. Katrina cursed and said he said it. Did that happen . No, ed, that did not happen. It sounds like she is writing a script for a movie. Ive already been throughout talking about this. That is absolutely not true. So that was before the tape was released. The tape actually does back up what eds question. She said it didnt happen, but it did actually happen. Well, again, katrina said she was play indicating somebody who was obviously she said the conversation didnt happen. No what we said, again, is that what didnt happen is we did not have a Conference Call confirming that luntz said the n word or heard donald trump say the n word. What these tapes do confirm is the fact that donald trump, again, denied that he used this derogatory term very early on in the campaign. Hes obviously been very clear on twitter. But he does he said this is not a word that is in his vocabulary. He told me as an individual that he did not say this word. When he said to you put it to bed, what did that mean . Just get rid of the rumors. If i started a rumor about you tomorrow, that would be annoying, especially if you knew it not to be true. So you, you know, what he meant by that is that, you know, this is something that really cant be tolerated. It sounds to me, though, and again, youre not speaking for Katrina Pierson, but last night when ed henry is asking her about this conversation, she says it didnt happen. She wasnt specifically saying frank lunts never confirmed it. That wasnt in the conversation. I can only speaking to what i know is true. And katrina said she was play indicating this woman. I said we had a Conference Call, but not about what omarosa claimed it to be. Ive been very clear than. What hasnt happened is omarosa has not been clear about when she heard this tape. Multiple stories on this. Thank you. Last december. She told other sources she heard about it as far back as october. I would not know the details that i know about this tape if she had not dealt me herself. And why the media refuses to kind of take to task and pick apart her statement as they do ours. Right. Is really i think its being picked apart. Well. Raising questions about whether she had talked to mueller, he dont know that future a fact. We only have her word on it. Last night, or in a statement, you also said that omarosa called you the night she was fired. She didnt disclose to you that she had been fired. She said she was resigning. She said she was resigning because she specifically heard the apprentice tape and that she was resigning and that i should resign as well, and even give secretary carson a heads up too. Because you work at hud . Right. The next day you said you talked to communication official, Senior Communications officials and a trump family members it. Can you say who talked and what . Sure. Hope hicks was involved. Obviously, i spoke to laura trump. She is one of my best friends. I let them know that this is what omarosa was claiming. And they told you she had been fired . Well, i cant really recall when that a came to light, but i believe thats probably the case. If you remember, omarosa had been allowed to stay at the white house for a period of time. It was her plan to always tell people that she had resigned, even though that obviously was not the case. When she told me she resigned, she felt that that was a lie she could perpetuate. You knew the president well. Youve worked for the organization future a long time. Uhhuh. Before you worked in government. Sarah sanders today said she couldnt guarantee there is no recording out there of the president using the n word. Can you guarantee there is no tape throughout . Well, look, the white house is a Diverse Group of folks. Obviously the president , i cant speak for him. I know that hes told me that he has never said this word, that its not in his vocabulary. I take him at his word. Would it shock you . Absolutely. The donald trump that i know doesnt see black and white. He sees success and failure. And whether that manifests itself as a person, a company, a place, you know, a television show, he certainly makes no distinction, and he doesnt categorize those successes and failures into race, religion and gender. When he referred to Omarosa Omarosa who was a Senior Adviser, very highly paid by taxpayer money as a dog, is that appropriate . Well, look, the president has referred to a lot of people as dogs. He referre