Donald Trump decided to fire Corey Lewandowski, his controversial campaign manager, who was previously accused of assault by a reporter during the primary campaign. The allegation against him was later dropped by a local sheriff. Lewandowski managed Trump’s campaign since it started last year.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee ousted Lewandowski amid pressure from his closest advisers particularly his family members to reorganize his presidential campaign immediately.
In a statement, Trump’s spokesperson Hope Hicks said, “The Donald J. Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican Primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign, The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future.”
Political observers noted that Trump’s decision to remove Lewandowski from his campaign is an acknowledgement that his campaign is struggling and he needs a major shakeup before the general election in November.
Trump suffered setbacks
Trump suffered setback over the past two weeks after. He received strong criticisms from Republicans after his racist comments against the federal judge who was presiding over lawsuits against Trump University. House Speaker Paul Ryan said his attacks against Judge Gonzalo Curiel were “completely unacceptable.” Ryan said, “Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is certainly the “textbook definition of a racist comment.”
Republicans also rejected Trump’s renewed call to ban Muslims from entering the United States after the Orlando massacre. Ryan said his proposal to ban Muslims is not in the best interest of the country. Eliot Cohen, a top-ranking official at the State Department during the Bush administration described his reaction after the Orlando massacre “opportunistic and shallow” and “not what Americans expect from a president.”
Last week, some Republican delegates formed the “Anybody but Trump Coalition.” Their main objective is to block the Republican presumptive nominee from getting the nomination at the party’s national convention in Cleveland.
Ivanka’s role in Lewandowski’s departure
According to CNN, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka convinced him to remove Lewandowski as his campaign manager. Ivanka has been critical of Lewandowski for months. She eventually talked to his father and convinced him to remove Lewandowski from his campaign on Sunday.
A source told CNN that the turning point for Ivanka was the rumor that Lewandowski tried to plant negative stories in the press about her husband Jared Kushner, who was one of the influential forces behind the scenes. He is involved in building a transition team for Trump if he wins the presidential election.
Some sources also told CNN, that people closest to Trump were worried that Lewandowski might create more problems and hinder the hiring of experience and veteran strategist to join the campaign. They were also concerned that Lewandowski would get Trump agitated on issues that “didn’t matter” to the campaign.
In a statement, Lewandowski said, “I stand by the fact that Mr. Trump is a great candidate and is better than Hillary Clinton ever will be.”
