- Trump fired Lewandowski in 2016 weeks before the Republican Convention
- Lewandowski to be ‘senior adviser’; campaign managers to remain in place
Donald Trump is bringing some familiar faces into his campaign after a series of polls showed Kamala Harris was undermining her support in battleground states.
The campaign is dismissing talk of a shakeup as an effort to shore up the existing structure, a White House effort that was applauded ahead of the Republican convention for its stability as Trump took on his primary rivals.
Trump himself denied that interpretation, calling campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita “THE BEST” in an online post.
“A lot of people want to join the campaign for the final push, some of whom participated in the first two campaigns. And we want as many as we can get!” Trump wrote.
In Lewandowski, who ran Trump’s original 2016 campaign before being ousted in a shakeup, the campaign has a new senior adviser who knows Trump’s habits and titled his book with the mantra: “Let Trump be Trump.”
This comes at a time when outside advisers say the campaign could use more safeguards to prevent the candidate from going too far, such as when he called his new opponent Kamala Harris “unintelligent” in an economic speech in which she held up a box of Tic Tacs.
Former President Donald Trump is bringing back Corey Lewandowski as a senior campaign adviser
Also joining on board are Taylor Budowich, who ran the super PAC MAGA, Inc., Tim Murtaugh, who served as Trump’s 2024 communications chief, Alex Pfeiffer and Alex Bruesewitz, a consultant who had been considering a run for Congress in Wisconsin.
Pfeiffer and Bruesewitz were officers of MAG, Inc.
“As we approach the final stretch of this election, we continue to expand our impressive campaign team,” Wiles and LaCivita said in a statement.
‘Corey Lewandowski, Taylor Budowich, Alex Pfeiffer, Alex Bruesewitz and Tim Murtaugh are all veterans of previous Trump campaigns and their unmatched experience will help President Trump prosecute the case against Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the most radical candidate in American history.’
A campaign official called it “simply an addition to the campaign” and said Trump’s statement made clear it was not a shakeup of current staff.
Corey Lewandowski was “very involved” in Trump’s 2016 campaign, as the candidate put it. The fired former campaign manager returns as a senior adviser at a time when Kamala Harris has improved her standing in the polls over Joe Biden.
Trump began his statement by saying he was leading in the polls, but recent moves have shown Kamala Harris tied or leading in key battlegrounds.
Trump began his post by writing: “We are leading in almost every poll, in some cases leading by a LOT, despite the fact that the Fake News is doing everything they can to support their radical left-wing liberal from San Francisco, Kamala Harris.”
That throws public polls into disarray, even though Trump managed to outperform them in his surprise 2016 victory.
He narrowly leads Harris, 50-49, in the latest Fox News national poll, and is 4 points behind her in the new Emerson poll.
The Cook Political Report lowered its ratings in three states after polls showed Harris tying or leading Trump in six of seven battleground surveys.
Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio has the candidate tied with Harris in Michigan at 48.
In June 2016, Trump fired Lewandowski, who had run his campaign in New Hampshire and the early primaries, after hiring Paul Manafort as chief strategist. Manafort resigned in August, and Trump hired Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager and Steve Bannon for the remainder of his White House campaign.
“I am pleased to announce that Corey Lewandowski, who was very involved in 2016, will be joining us as a senior advisor. Others will also be joining us. We will announce them soon!” Trump posted.
Lewandowski had previously been advising Trump’s campaign and was present at Trump’s debate against Joe Biden in Atlanta this summer.