After calling the police on Sunday afternoon to report that the president’s former campaign manager was threatening to harm himself, Brad Parscale’s wife told officers that he had made “suicidal comments throughout the week.”
Candice Parscale told officers that she believed her husband had already shot himself, noting that he was “ranting and raving” while holding a gun. She said she left the premises before she heard what she thought was the sound of a gun being cocked and fired and then called 911, according to police reports obtained by CNN.
When the police arrived, they heard Brad Parscale “pacing and ranting” and determined that he had not shot himself. An officer who was on the phone with Parscale asked him to come outside. Video released by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department shows that Parscale eventually did leave the house, where he was restrained and eventually detained. The police report stated that Parscale was holding a beer as he left and was “clearly intoxicated.”
Candice Parscale told police that her husband suffered from PTSD and that he drank. An officer on the scene noted that she had bruises on her arms, which she claimed came from an unreported incident with Brad Parscale a few days before he was detained.
Brad Parscale started as President Trump’s campaign manager in February 2018 but was demoted this summer amid a worsening coronavirus pandemic and a fear that he lacked the political experience to lead the campaign the way he led the 2016 campaign’s data analytics team. “It was only a matter of time” before Parscale was moved out of his role as campaign manager, a senior adviser to the campaign told CNN at the time. “His inexperience hindered the campaign.”
CNN reported Parscale still held a senior campaign position after his demotion but cleaned out his office and was “rarely seen” inside headquarters.
