Omarosa: NY Times Trump article is textbook hit job

Former 'Apprentice' star and current Trump supporter Omarosa Manigault goes 'On the Record' on the controversial New York Times story about presumptive GOP nominee's treatment of women and a claim by an ex-girlfriend that she was misquoted

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," May 16, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Donald Trump tweeting today, "With the coming forward today of the woman central to the failing "New York Times" hit piece on me, we have exposed the article as a fraud."

And now businesswoman and former "Apprentice" contestant, Omarosa,who is now working with the Trump campaign. She's here to go ON THE RECORD.

Nice to see you.

OMAROSA MANIGAULT, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Hi, Greta. Good to see you as well.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I think the bombshell will be if it turns out that the interview with the "New York Times" of this woman was taped or not, but we haven't heard that yet. Because that may at least sort of let us know, you know, who is on first as to who is telling the truth on it. But you say it's a hit piece, why?

MANIGAULT: Absolutely. It's a hit piece because you look at what this woman has said, that she said that he was nothing but a gentleman. That he was very charming. That he was kind. Those are all elements of this interview that they left out because they wanted to characterize Donald Trump in a very negative way.

This piece was probably already written before they even interviewed this woman and they dropped names in it. But it really does come down to politics and this idea or trying to paint a picture that Donald Trump has a problem with women.

VAN SUSTEREN: What -- I must confess that the part in the article where it says that his father once told Donald Trump's girlfriend not to order the fish, but to order the steak, you know, I must have read that paragraph three times. I still don't figure out why they are sticking it on Donald, and what's wrong with the father saying she should have steak instead of fish?

MANIGAULT: And I also thought it was very odd that they pointed out that Donald Trump actually hired a woman in the 80's to be a construction manager. I mean a trailblazer in hiring a woman in an industry that generally does not hire woman to lead and pointing out that his father may not have liked that.

But without seeing the irony that Donald was, in fact, appointing a woman to a very important position at a time when people generally wouldn't do that. And I think that that shows that he holds women in a very high regard in his business interactions as well as in his personal interactions.

VAN SUSTEREN: Does it mean anything to you that that article was above the fold, on the front page. It took two reporters six weeks?

MANIGAULT: It took you almost 600, 700 words to really even get into the story to see where is it that they are seeing that Donald crossed the line. It just seemed like to me a tabloid piece. And it was very interesting that with all of these people that they interviewed, that there were these random people who I think in the past wanted to tell these stories, but why didn't they?

Why didn't they share these stories before? Donald has been running for almost a year now. Not to undermine anything that they have said, but just to say to you that I have never ever witness Donald Trump act inappropriately towards women and I have worked with him for almost 13 years.

VAN SUSTEREN: You have to admit, though, that his language is rather rough and rude and boorish sometimes towards women. You have met that one.

MANIGAULT: Well, I find that Donald Trump's language is nothing like a politician has ever been. And that's why people are connecting with him. He tells it like it is. He speaks very straight. He doesn't have a speech writer writing some politically correct message. And that's what's resonated with so many voters, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: Is the "New York Times" gunning for him, or do you think that they just thought this was good journalism? You said it's a hit piece.

MANIGAULT: It's so clear to me that they were trying to sell lots and lots of papers, which they have done, but it's been undermined. The credibility of this story goes out the window when their opening story about this woman is really called to question by the woman who said that's not the characterization that I was given.

In fact, I was assured that this was not a piece that would really paint him in a very negative way. So I think this story really kind of shows that there will continue to be a dialogue about Donald.

Certainly, he has work to do in the area of building greater relationships with women voters. But Donald has really started a movement because he has a true vision for this nation and he wants to see change for all Americans.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I certainly would like to know if there are any tapes about the article. And I'm going to at the end of the show say what I think about the article. So, Omarosa, I hope you will stick around or DVR it or something.

MANIGAULT: I will.

VAN SUSTEREN: But, anyway, thanks for joining us.

MANIGAULT: Glad to be here.