Just weeks before the Republican convention where he’s poised to claim the GOP nomination, Donald Trump this morning has announced a major change in his campaign. Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is out.
As Fox News reports:
A Trump senior campaign aide confirmed to Fox News Monday morning that Lewandowski is no longer with the campaign.
It’s unclear what specifically led to the shake-up. The high-profile departure of one of Trump’s most senior and loyal advisers follows what was widely seen as a rough patch for the campaign.
Trump’s polling numbers against presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton have slipped in recent weeks, and Trump has found himself caught up in several controversies over his own comments.
The New York Times first reported on the Lewandowski development.
“The Donald J. Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican Primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign,” campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in a statement, as reported by the Times. “The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future.”
Other sources suggest that in addition to lagging poll numbers, campaign in-fighting may have led to the change. Via Politico:
Lewandowski, who had worked for Trump’s campaign since it launched last June, had clashed with campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
“It’s a total cage fight in there now,” an operative close to the campaign told POLITICO last month. “Manafort tried to take out Corey, but he didn’t succeed. And now, everywhere Corey looks, he sees a threat, so he’s trying to neutralize those threats.”
As y’all may reall, Manafort — who was an adviser to the presidential campaigns of Republicans Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush and John McCain — was brought into Trump’s campaign to provide the political campaign experience many felt Lewandowsi lacked as Trump moved toward the big-time general election campaign.
Via Allen West
