Reports of fiery allegations against President Donald Trump in an upcoming tell-all memoir by former White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman, the anniversary of deadly riots in Charlottesville, and the creeping up of the 2020 election set the stage for this week’s high-profile political appearances on cable news stations.
The Sunday shows are a chance for political heavyweights to debate the week’s most pressing stories and policies. They include: ABC’s “This Week,” CBS’s “Face the Nation,” CNN’s “State of the Union,” Fox’s “Fox News Sunday,” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Here are this week’s highlights:
Omarosa Manigault Newman released audio of Chief of Staff John Kelly firing her in the Situation Room to prove she has tapes from her time in the White House.
Former White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman sat for an exclusive interview with Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” after allegations from her new book caught fire this past week.
In her tell-all memoir that's due out this week, Manigault Newman claimed she secretly recorded President Donald Trump and other staff members during her year-long stint in the West Wing.
On Sunday morning, she played one of the recordings, in which Chief of Staff John Kelly is heard firing her in the White House Situation Room.
That wasn't the only reported allegation from the book to circulate this week. Manigault Newman also reportedly labeled Trump a "racist," "misogynist," and a "bigot," and shared accounts of him using a racial slur on the set of "The Apprentice" and eating a piece of paper in the Oval Office.
Read more: Business Insider
Kellyanne Conway hit back at allegations of racism in the Trump administration.
Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway hit back at the supposed content of Manigault Newman's book on Sunday, defending the president against allegations of racism on ABC's "This Week."
Conway said Manigault Newman had "undercut her credibility" by crafting bombshell allegations and called her a "tremendous disappointment" for focusing on the president's behavior in her book instead of the gains the administration has made for minority populations, because that "doesn't sell books and that doesn't settle scores."
The main allegation Conway was addressing was that Trump used the N-word while on the set of "The Apprentice" when Manigault Newman was a contestant in 2004. Conway rejected the suggestion that the president is racist, and stated the administration greatly values and has made huge gains for minority populations.
Read more: Business Insider
Host Jon Karl then asked Conway for the name of any top African-American staffer since Manigault Newman's departure last year.
"Who now is that person?" Karl asked. "Who is the most prominent, high-level adviser to president on the West Wing staff right now?"
"We have Ja'Ron," Conway said, declining to provide a last name or the name of another staffer.
Read more: Business Insider
The Trump administration's response to racial tension has been subject to scrutiny in the midst of the one-year anniversary of a violent clash between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, that arose over the removal of a Confederate statue.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine says 'hate will not define' Virginia, one year after Charlottesville riots
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said that "hate will not define Virginia" in an interview aired on Sunday, the one-year anniversary of the violent clash between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville.
Kaine told CBS Trump's failure to condemn the white nationalists following the rally "stoked division" among Americans, and was "every bit as morally bad as holding views that are that are bigoted or racist."
Read more: CBS News
Other Virginia lawmakers appeared in interviews Sunday to reflect on the anniversary, including former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, who criticized Trump's response to last year's violence.
"There's a time in your presidency when you need to show moral leadership and you need to stand and send a message to the world," McAuliffe said. "He failed that day."
Read more: CNN
Michael Avenatti says he 'should be taken seriously' if he decides to run in 2020.
Citing "the truth" as his main policy issue, attorney Michael Avenatti said he is now seriously considering running as a Democratic candidate in the 2020 US presidential election.
Avenatti said on ABC's "This Week" he supports establishing universal Medicare, opposes the abolishment of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and actually sides with President Donald Trump on the current imbalance in US trade policy.
Read more: ABC News
Other talk of 2020 on Sunday featured Ohio Governor John Kasich, an outspoken Trump critic who ran against him in the 2016 GOP primary. Kasich said he wasn't sure about his next moves in the current "chaotic" climate, but wasn't ruling out another run at the White House, saying, "Maybe I will. Maybe I won't."
Read more: NBC News