Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski heartily defended his ex-boss in a half-hour interview on CNN Monday, after news broke that he had been fired from the campaign.
Though unable to say why he was fired, Lewandowski lauded Trump’s political success, including his controversial fundraising and media strategies. He repeatedly said that it was an “honor” to have worked with the businessman and claimed to have “no regrets.”
“It’s been a great privilege, and look, I wouldn’t change one second. The hardest part for me has been just not being able to spend the time with my family that I’ve wanted to over the last 18 or 19 months, but I would not look back,” Lewandowski said. “I have no regrets. It’s such a privilege and an honor to have been a very small part of this, to learn and experience what he’s been able to achieve, and the electoral success that he has had. It’s been truly amazing.”
Lewandowski was unwavering in his insistence that he had no regrets “professionally,” but CNN’s Dana Bash wasn’t buying it.
“I know that you’re human. There’s flesh and blood. You’ve got to have some regrets,” she said, to which Lewandowski repeated an earlier line about not being able to spend time with his family.
Asked whether he brought out Trump’s “worst instincts,” Lewandowski called himself “a very straight shooter.”
“Anybody who knows me and has known me over a long period of time knows that I’m a very straight shooter, much to my own detriment on many occasions,” he said. “I tell people the way it is, whether it’s good, or bad, or indifferent, because I always say I am not smart enough to lie, because I can’t remember the lie I told.”
The ex-campaign manager also heaped praise on Trump’s family, calling the businessman’s daughter, Ivanka, a “fantastic surrogate,” despite reports that she had helped push Lewandowski out.
“She brings a sense of calmness to the campaign, she has a way about her that she connects immediately, not just with women, but with business executives, she is so polished, so professional, it’s been an honor to be able to work with her for the last 18 months,” Lewandowski said.
He praised Paul Manafort, originally brought on as Trump’s convention manager, in the same way. Manafort is rumored to have gained power in the campaign as Lewandowski steadily lost his.
“Paul and I have gotten along amazingly well, and I know the media doesn’t want to report that, but we work side-by-side, talking on a daily basis, multiple times a day,” he said. “We had a great relationship.”
