Former Trump administration aide Omarosa Manigault Newman — who is desperately promoting a new book and is increasingly in murky legal waters — released to CBS News a recording of a conversation among campaign staffers discussing an alleged tape in which then-presidential candidate Donald Trump supposedly used the N-word, according to Manigault Newman.

CBS This Morning” focused part of its broadcast on the discussion of an apparently nonexistent tape.

Senior staffer Lynne Patton on Tuesday flatly denied the characterization of the tape in a statement.

“To be clear, at no time did I participate in a conference call with Katrina Pierson advising me, Jason Miller and Omarosa Manigault Newman that Frank Luntz had heard President Donald J. Trump use a derogatory racial term,” Patton said in her statement, adding that it’s “a claim that Luntz himself has also denied.”

Patton’s statement also noted that Omarosa had called Patton the night Kelly fired her.

In that phone call, said Patton, Manigault Newman said she “personally heard a second-hand recording of President Trump using the N-word in a derogatory fashion.”

Later, Patton said she confirmed that Bill Pruitt, the supposed original source of the tape in Newman’s account, flatly denied the existence of any such tape.

At the White House press conference on Tuesday afternoon, much of the discussion predictably  focused on Manigault Newman, the alleged tape, and recent comments President Trump made about Omarosa via Twitter and elsewhere.

“This has absolutely nothing to do with race and absolutely everything to do with the president calling out someone’s lack of integrity,” said press secretary Sarah Sanders in response to a reporter’s question about whether recent comments by Trump regarding Manigault Newman constituted part of a pattern of insulting prominent African-Americans.

“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 doesn’t hold back on doing that across the board.”

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Related: Trump Campaign Files Complaint Against Omarosa Over Confidentiality Agreement

“The president is certainly voicing his frustration with the fact that [Manigault Newman] has shown a complete lack of integrity, particularly by the actions following her time here at the White House,” said Sanders, fielding a question about the president’s Tuesday morning tweet, in which he referred to the former staffer as a “crazed, crying lowlife” and a “dog.”

Asked why the president doesn’t simply ignore Manigault Newman’s antics, Sanders said she thought the administration and America in general would quite happily ignore it, but that the media’s seizing opportunistically and ceaselessly upon it was giving it more interest and import than it deserved.

“Unfortunately, the individuals in this room continue to create a large platform for somebody they know not to have a lot of credibility — for someone they frankly refused to give a platform to when they worked here at the White House,” said Sanders.

“It wasn’t until this individual started to negatively attack this president and this administration and try to tear this entire place down that she received the type of platform and rollout that she’s getting [now from the press],” Sanders continued.

“I think it would be great if every single person in this room and every single person in this administration never had to talk about this again. And we actually got to focus on the real policies and the real things that not matter just to people in this building but certainly all Americans … that would certainly be the best thing we could do for our country.”

“I can certainly say I’ve never heard him use that term or anything similar.”

When questioned if she had ever asked the president if he’d used the N” word,” Sanders replied, “The president addressed that question directly via Twitter … I can certainly say I’ve never heard him use that term or anything similar.”

“If at any point we felt that the president was who some of his critics claim him to be, we certainly wouldn’t be here.”

Check out this video with a conversation about a supposed recording:

Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to LifeZette.