President Trump has tapped former digital aide Brad Parscale to lead his re-election bid, as his campaign begins to focus on “building its infrastructure for the 2020 race,” according to a statement issued Tuesday.
Parscale served as the digital architect of the Trump campaign throughout the 2016 presidential election, after spending years developing websites for the president’s real-estate company and his daughter’s and wife’s business ventures. A source close to the White House said Parscale, who earned more than $10 million for his work on the Trump campaign, has remained close to the president and his family since the president took office.
“Brad is an amazing talent and was pivotal to our success in 2016,” Trump’s son Eric said in a statement. “He has our family’s complete trust and is the perfect person to be at the helm of the campaign.”
Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner praised the “disciplined technology and data-driven approach” Parscale introduced during the 2016 election, saying “his leadership and expertise will help build a best-in-class campaign” ahead of 2020.
Trump filed for re-election hours after he was sworn into office last January, and has held numerous campaign-style rallies as president in states that carried him to victory. Up until Tuesday, however, it was unclear who would oversee his bid for a second term.
Parscale, who is currently assisting Republican Robert Stovall in his campaign to replace retiring GOP Rep. Lamar Smith, has twice been called to testify on Capitol Hill as part of congressional probes into Russian election meddling.
The Texas-based digital strategist accepted an invitation from the House Intelligence Committee last July and appeared before the panel in October to face questions about the Trump campaign’s digital operation and potential collusion with Russia.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein also sent a letter to Parscale last month asking him to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and to turn over any documents he may have related to hacking groups such as WikiLeaks.
