Two top campaign aides to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Kevin Kellems and Erica Freeman, abruptly left the campaign Friday, according to news reports. Kellems had only been hired two weeks prior, indicating further behind-the-scenes turmoil for the GOP candidate’s campaign.
Both individuals were involved in the campaign’s media outreach by instructing surrogates for it — politicians or political figures speaking on the candidate’s behalf — what to say in press interviews.
“While brief, it has been an interesting experience, and [I] am proud of the contributions made through our early-phase project endeavors,” Kellems said a message to campaign staff announcing his departure.
Freeman had been at the center of an internal fight at the campaign over how to handle press questions regarding the ongoing lawsuits against the Trump Education Initiative, formerly called Trump University. Freeman had told campaign surrogates not to discuss the issue, but Trump overruled her earlier this month.
The two staffers’ departures followed reports that Vincent Harris, a former campaign staffer for Sen. Rand Paul’s, R-Ky., presidential bid, left the Trump campaign just two days after being brought onboard as a digital strategist. Harris and the Trump campaign disputed the report, saying that Harris worked through a subcontractor and thus was never officially a campaign staffer.
