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CABRERA: Omarosa, the former reality star turned top White House aide, is now turning on her former boss. Not only has she written a tell-all book about her time in the White House, but she is sharing secret recordings she made while there, including one of a conversation she says she had with chief of staff John Kelly inside the situation room. This is the moment Omarosa was fired.</s>OMAROSA MANIGAULT NEWMAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE AIDE: Can I ask you a couple of questions? Does the president -- is the president aware of what's going on?</s>JOHN KELLY, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Don't -- let's not go down the road. This is a nonnegotiable discussion.</s>NEWMAN: I don't want to negotiate. I just -- I've never talked -- had a chance to talk to you, General Kelly. So if this is my departure, I'd at least like to have at least an opportunity to understand.</s>KELLY: No. We can talk another time. This has to do with some pretty serious integrity violations. So I'll let it go at that. So the staff and everyone on the staff works for me, not the president.</s>CABRERA: Again, that tape, taken without Kelly's knowledge in what should be the most secure room in the White House, the situation room. Omarosa says she had good reason to do it, though.</s>NEWMAN: Unhinged. As you'll see in "Unhinged," I protected myself because this is a White House where everybody lies. The president lies to the American people. Sarah Huckabee stands in front of the country and lies every single day. You have to have your own back because otherwise you'll look back and you'll see 17 knives in your back.</s>CABRERA: We just got a statement from Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, and it reads, "The very idea a staff member would sneak a recording device into the White House situation room shows a blatant disregard for our national security and then to brag about it on national television further proves the lack of character and integrity of this disgruntled former White House employee." With us to discuss, White House reporter for Bloomberg News, Toluse Olorunnipa, chief political correspondent for "Esquire" Ryan Lizza, and senior political correspondent for "The Hill," Amie Parnes. Ryan, the fact that Omarosa recorded the chief of staff in the situation room, does this raise not just ethical issues but security issues?</s>RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It does. It's very unusual. There are rules against bringing those kinds of devices in what would surely be a secure area. So she seems to have not really cared much about that. And the White House seems not to have had any procedures in place to make sure that recording devices didn't go in there. But I don't know, for me, I'm personally much more interested in what this reveals about this White House than, you know -- one, are her stories true and credible. And the fact that she did record some lends some credence to other things, you know, the quotes in the book. And, you know, like the -- you know, like Michael Wolfe book which was problematic because it had some errors so you couldn't rely on anything, but at the end of the day it did reveal quite a bit about the White House. So to me, that's -- you know, I'm very interested in what it tells about this White House.</s>CABRERA: Yes.</s>LIZZA: And the fact that she knew Donald Trump for so long and now thinks a certain way about him.</s>CABRERA: I mean, when she was interviewed this morning she seemed to imply that she did these recordings for safekeeping because she almost saw it coming that her credibility would be questioned at some point. And Omarosa is saying that this is just the nature of the White House. So, Amie, do you think other people could have recordings?</s>AMIE PARNES, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE HILL: I mean, this comes on the heels of Michael Cohen, keep in mind, Trump's personal attorney, who also was recording him. So I think this is kind of in the backdrop of that. And now two people who have been in Trump's orbit feel the need to record. And that kind of says something about who the president is and the fact that a lot of people around him at the time feel like he isn't lying and the only way that they can prove their case is if they are actually providing a recording. So I think that is problematic.</s>CABRERA: I wonder if it gives other people ideas going forward. Toluse, Kellyanne Conway was asked about who is now the most high profile or high level African-American in the White House with Omarosa being out, and she seemed to struggle to answer the question. Let's listen.</s>JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Who is the most prominent, high level adviser to the president on the West Wing staff right now?</s>KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT: African-American?</s>KARL: Yes.</s>CONWAY: I would say that -- well, first of all you're totally not covering the fact that our secretary of Housing and Urban Development and world renowned --</s>KARL: I'm asking you about the White House staff. I'm asking about the people the president is with every day.</s>CONWAY: Well, that's important that he -- well, the president works with Secretary Carson every day, he's trying to break the --</s>KARL: Who there is on the White House staff right now?</s>CONWAY: And we have Jaron, who's done a fabulous job.</s>CABRERA: Toluse, why was it so hard for her to answer that question?</s>TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Yes, well, from this White House, there's not really a good answer. There are no senior White House officials in the West Wing that would take the place of Omarosa that reflect the country the way that the White House believed that she did when she was there. It's really stunning to have such a lack of diversity within the highest echelons of the White House. And we've seen some of the negative implications of that with how the president has responded to the Charlottesville situation and how he's responded to the second version of Charlottesville taking place this weekend. There aren't those people in the White House being able to advise the president, make those connections between the president and the black community. And it's pretty clear that Kellyanne Conway had a hard time explaining who that new person was, because there is no new person, there has been no replacement in a lot of those outreach efforts that Omarosa was in charge of and have been -- have not been taken up. And now we see the White House go on this full court press trying to discredit Omarosa, along with the RNC, in part trying to say that she's just a disgruntled employee and that no one should trust what she's saying. But she was useful for the White House in presenting this image that this is not a racist presidency, that this is a presidency that cares about issues in the black community. She was very much at the forefront, helping this White House do that. And now that she's gone, they're trying to discredit her. And it really lends some credence to what she said about having to make tapes and make recordings because as soon as she's not playing the role that they wanted her to play, they are really trying to discredit her.</s>CABRERA: Yes.</s>OLORUNNIPA: There have been two statements from Sarah Sanders in the last two days really taking her to task.</s>CABRERA: And the president calling her a low life as well.</s>OLORUNNIPA: That's right.</s>CABRERA: Let me turn to other political developments this week, and Congressman Chris Collins charged with insider trading, of course. He's now suspending his reelection campaign. This was considered a safe GOP seat. Amie, does Collins now suspending his campaign actually put this seat into play?</s>PARNES: I think it does. But then you have a couple of people who are conservative running for the seat. And, you know, I think it could go either way. There are some Democrats who could cross over. But I think these two Republicans who are running aim to keep it safe and want to keep it in that -- in the Republican turf.</s>CABRERA: And real quick, Ryan, Michael Avenatti this weekend, I've got to get this one in, and he spoke in Iowa at an event that had a lot of other political contenders, so to speak, for 2020. He's talked about throwing his hat in the ring. Let's listen to him in Iowa.</s>MICHAEL AVENATTI, STORMY DANIELS' ATTORNEY: The Democratic Party must be a party that fights fire with fire.</s>AVENATTI: When they go low, I say we hit harder.</s>ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Ryan, very quickly, any chance we see a Trump/Avenatti showdown in 2020?</s>RYAN LIZZA, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, ESQUIRE: Well, I don't -- after 2016, I don't make those kind of predictions anymore, Ana.</s>LIZZA: But I think the Democrats have a big, strong field of candidates that have been elected to office, from the mayoral level all the way up to governors statewide, senators, and it's going to be a big, crowded field. And we're kind of in this silly season right now where not very many of those people are being outspoken, not very many of them are talking about running for president, although they're doing certain things. And Avenatti is sort of filling the vacuum right now. But, you know, I think he's a very good advocate for his clients. I've gotten to know him because he's on T.V. a lot and I've talked to him several times. Nice guy, but I wouldn't bet on him being the Democratic nominee.</s>CABRERA: All right. Ryan, Toluse, Amie, thank you for joining us. In New Mexico, it's just a disturbing situation as we continue to learn more about the 11 starving children who were rescued from a compound littered with ammunition, fuel cans, and dirty diapers. Residents there asking why the police didn't search this property sooner. The Sheriff responds next. But, first, Wall Street will be laser-focused on retail earnings when the New York trading week starts -- the new trading week, I should say, starts tomorrow. A number of big companies are set to report their latest numbers amid healthy consumer spending. Traders are also awaiting new data on the housing market. CNN's Christine Romans has more. Christine?</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ana. Wall Street watching retail earnings. Home Depot, Macy's, Walmart, Nordstrom, and J.C. Penny are among stores reporting results this week. Despite the tough retail environment, Macy's shares have been on fire. You know, they're up nearly 40 percent over the past three months and more than 60 percent this year. July retail sales data also due this week. Consumer spending surged in the second quarter. Investors want to see that trend continue, but what about the housing market? In June, home building fell to a nine-month low. Housing starts tumbled more than 12 percent, and building permits fell too. On Thursday, the Commerce Department will release July's numbers. Now, some economists say a slowdown in housing is a warning sign for U.S. economic growth. Home sales have declined in four of the past five months as prices rise but paychecks remain stagnant. In New York, I'm Christine Romans.