When Mathews asked if the public should be worried, Newman nodded.
Mathews said he had hoped for her reassurance on the state of the country.
“No,” she said, “it’s going to not be okay. It’s not.”
“So bad,” Newman added seconds later.
Newman, a former contestant on Trump’s NBC show “The Apprentice,” also did not mince words about the president’s social media habit.
“I was haunted by tweets every single day, like what is he gonna tweet next?” she said.
Earlier in the conversation, Newman insisted that she served in the administration because it was “a call of duty. I felt like I was serving my country, not serving him.”
This stands in some contrast with a notable November 2016 Independent Journal Review interview in which Newman suggested her allegiance was with Trump’s standing first and foremost.
“It’s so great our enemies are making themselves clear so that when we get in to the White House, we know where we stand,” she said at the time, later alluding to a “list” of enemies.
A similar statement came out in a PBS Frontline documentary.
“Every critic, every detractor will have to bow down to President Trump,” Newman said. “It’s everyone who has ever doubted Donald, who disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”
This scene in the second episode of a three-episode premiere stands in stark contrast with the swagger Newman carried in Wednesday night’s show.
Related: Omarosa Manigault Newman says she quit White House job, wasn’t fired
“I’m Omarosa, and I’m back,” the former “Apprentice” star said, pronouncing herself a “reality TV legend.”
Newman served in the Trump administration before she was reportedly terminated by Trump’s Chief of Staff John Kelly. She had to be escorted off the grounds when she attempted to enter Trump’s residence to debate her sacking, sources told NBC News at the time.
But Newman seemed to imply that her time in the White House would aid her in her desire to win the grand prize of $250,000.
“The one thing I learned from politics is that you have to watch your own back and in some cases you have to watch your front, too,” she said on the show, noting that she looked forward to being forced to stay off social media and away from the press.
Her fellow competitors include: UFC fighter Chuck Lidell, actress Shannon Elizabeth, Nickelodeon star James Maslow, Broadway actress Marissa Jaret Winokur, actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, singer Marc McGraff, former basketball star Metta World Peace, Miss Universe runner-up Ariadna Gutiérrez, reality star Brandi Glanville and Matthews.
But it was Newman who earned the greatest reaction when host Julie Chen announced Newman would join the show on Wednesday.
“Oh God,” Winokur groaned when the former White House staffer joined her on the stage.
Related: Omarosa Manigault causes uproar at black journalists convention
Reactions inside the house weren’t much different.
“Walking through that front door is Omarosa,” Matthews complained to the camera. “When people ask me what I don’t want to see in the house it’s Omarosa. I can’t do toxicity or negativity.”
Thanks to (alleged) random luck, Newman was declared safe of eviction from the “Big Brother” house during the first episode of the three-night premiere.
“I am the queen of the boardroom, and now I am the queen of the ‘Big Brother’ house,” she claimed.