White House press secretary Sarah Sanders declined on Wednesday to say how many African-Americans work at the White House, but said the White House is “going to continue to try to diversify this staff.”
“Certainly, as I addressed yesterday, we value diversity not just at the White House but in the entire administration. We are going to continue to try to diversify this staff. We have a large number of diverse staffers from various backgrounds … race, religion, gender,” Sanders said.
The lack of diversity in President Donald Trump’s West Wing comes back into focus as Trump’s longtime adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman, the only African-American to serve in a senior role in Trump’s White House, re-emerged into the public arena to promote her new book.
In the eight months since Manigault Newman was fired, Trump has yet to appoint a single African-American to a senior White House role as either an assistant or a deputy assistant to the President.
“I’m not going to go through and do a count,” Sanders said. “We would love to diversify our staff and continue to do so.”
CNN earlier this week reported that none of the 48 assistants and deputy assistants to Trump are black.
On Tuesday, Trump referred to Manigault as a “dog.”
