Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has reportedly been demoted and will now serve as the GOP front-runner’s body man and scheduler as Paul Manafort fills the role of running the Trump campaign.
CBS and others reported that Trump’s campaign has been significantly reorganized, and that the number of staffers reporting directly to Lewandowski has been reduced. Trump’s national field director Stuart Jolly also resigned on Monday when faced with the prospect of reporting to newly hired political director Rick Wiley, who used to serve as Scott Walker’s campaign manager.
Trump acknowledged some changes Tuesday morning on “Fox and Friends,” but wasn’t specific about which people were moved around. Trump’s campaign had not made an official statement as of Tuesday morning, and had not returned a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
“When you bring other people in I could see other people getting hurt,” Trump said of his campaign shake-up. “But frankly, we’re in position where we’d like to see if we could close it out.”
“I think were going to get to the number. I think today’s very important,” Trump added. “We hope to have a big day today and we’re going to represent New York very well.”
Jolly and Lewandowski are longtime friends, having previously worked together at Americans for Prosperity, an advocacy group that gets most of its funding from David and Charles Koch. After Manafort’s hire to run the GOP convention for Trump, members of the campaign wanted a larger shake-up within the campaign.
Although Lewandowski served as campaign manager during many of Trump’s biggest primary wins, the campaign manager has fallen under scrutiny in recent weeks after being being charged with battery against reporter Michelle Fields after a press conference.
In another big change, Trump will now start sending significantly more of his own money on the campaign in the coming months, with $20 million slated for advertising in big states in May and June, CBS reported. The Trump campaign will also expand there efforts in Pennsylvania before the April 26 primary.
