Donald Trump Fires His Campaign Manager
Donald Trump Fires Corey Lewandowski, His Campaign Manager
By MAGGIE HABERMAN JUNE 20, 2016
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Corey Lewandowski, at Trump Tower in New York in early May, has guided Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, until now. CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times
Donald J. Trump has fired his contentious campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, a move that comes as the presumptive Republican nominee faces challenges as he heads into the general election.
Mr. Lewandowski could not immediately be reached for comment about his departure, which was announced by the campaign.
“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,” the campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said in a statement. “The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future.”
With the Republican National Convention looming next month, Mr. Trump is facing the task of broadening his team to include people with previous presidential campaign experience.
Mr. Trump also has been turning his attention to fund-raising for the first time, a task that Mr. Lewandowski had assumed oversight of and one that has gone slowly for the campaign. The campaign has aired no ads in the general election and there has been no “super PAC” that received a clear public blessing from Mr. Trump and his top advisers.
The loss of Mr. Lewandowski was intended as part of a larger shift toward the final sprint of the race, according to those briefed on the matter.
Mr. Trump had faced increasing concerns from allies and donors, as well as his children, about the next phase of the campaign. It is a move that could reassure donors and Republicans more broadly that he can adjust toward a November election strategy.
Two people briefed on the move, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Lewandowski was fired.
The campaign manager was seen as having a hostile relationship with many members of the national press corps who cover Mr. Trump, and many officials at the Republican National Committee had strained relationships with him.
And Mr. Lewandowski was often at odds with Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, Paul Manafort, who was brought on in March when the candidate seemed poised for a lengthy fight over delegates.
Mr. Lewandowski was said to have resisted certain moves that would have increased the number of staff members, at times blocking Mr. Manafort from making hires or later undoing them.
But the people briefed on Mr. Lewandowski’s departure said that the circumstances went well beyond any particular episode or any particular relationship. Mr. Lewandowski had a penchant for making headlines about himself that overshadowed his boss, including being charged with misdemeanor battery, a charge later dropped, after he was accused of grabbing a reporter as she approached Mr. Trump with a question in Jupiter, Fla., on March 8, a night when the candidate won three of four Republican state primary votes.
One person stressed that the move had been in the works for many weeks, particularly since it became clear that Mr. Trump would be the nominee. The person added said that the campaign is now focusing on bringing the party together, including hiring new staff members and adjusting to the race against Hillary Clinton. And there had been a desire for many weeks to make changes ahead of the Republican National Convention, July 18-21 in Cleveland.
Mr. Lewandowski, 42, a New Hampshire resident with deep ties to the state, had made himself a delegate to the convention months ago. He is still the chairman of the state’s delegation to the convention.
121COMMENTSNo one inside the campaign was given any advance warning about the dismissal of Mr. Lewandowski, who was on the campaign’s daily 8:30 a.m. conference call on Monday, according to a person briefed on the developments.
On Twitter, some campaign staff members rejoiced at the news of Mr. Lewandowski’s departure.
“Ding dong the witch is dead!” wrote Michael Caputo, a Trump communications aide who was said to have been antagonized by Mr. Lewandowski.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us...ald-trump.html
Corey Lewandowski Escorted Out of Trump Tower, Out of Trump Campaign
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by NEIL W. MCCABE
20 Jun 2016
Manhattan, N.Y.
1,707 comments
Donald J. Trump fired his wunderkind campaign manager Corey Lewandowski Monday at the campaign’s regular Trump Tower meeting.
“Corey was escorted out of the building,” a source close to the campaign told Breitbart News.
Lewandowski came to the meeting unaware that he had lost the support of the GOP presumptive nominee, the source said. At the meeting, attended by both senior campaign staff and members of the family, Trump reviewed different campaign metrics that were all faltering: cooperation with party leaders, fundraising, surrogate operations and most importantly the polls.
The campaign manager seemed to have run out of ideas. When the New York City developer asked Lewandowski what he would do to turn things around, the only thing he could come up with was for Trump to announce his pick for vice-president.
Pitching that as the solution sealed his fate, the source said. “The VP pick was the one piece of suspense that would make people tune into the convention—Corey wanted to give that away now? There was no way.”
When the time came for Trump to lower the axe, no one spoke up to defend Lewandowski.
One month ago, Lewandowski was reported in the New York Post to have had a screaming match with the campaign’s press secretary about the running of the campaign on an uptown Manhattan street four blocks up from Trump Tower.
Afterwards, there was speculation that Lewandowski was in trouble.
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presid...rump-campaign/
