Gettin’ the old band back together.
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is bolstering its operations with a slew of veterans from his past presidential cycles, including his 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski joining its ranks.
“As we head into the home stretch of this election, we are continuing to add to our impressive campaign team,” campaign senior aides Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, who are effectively co-managing his campaign, said in a statement.
“Corey Lewandowski, Taylor Budowich, Alex Pfeiffer, Alex Bruesewitz, and Tim Murtaugh are all veterans of prior Trump campaigns and their unmatched experience will help President Trump prosecute the case against Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the most radical ticket in American history.”
Lewandowski, who is expected to take the role of senior adviser, was Trump’s first-ever presidential campaign manager and has long remained in his orbit despite several controversies.
In March 2016, reporter Michelle Fields who worked at Breitbart News during the time, alleged that Lewandowski forcefully grabbed her and he was later charged with a count of battery. By June of that year, he parted ways with the campaign.
A prominent Republican donor, John Odom, has also alleged that Lewandowski became inebriated and inappropriately touched his wife during a charity dinner.
But the 50-year-old managed to come back in Trump’s good graces — he served in an advisory role for the Republican National Convention last month.
As for the other hires, Budowich and Pfeiffer both worked in senior posts at the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. Budowich, who helmed the MAGA PAC, previously served as a spokesperson and an aide to Trump. Pfeiffer worked as the communications director for the MAGA PAC.
Murtaugh previously served as the communications director for Trump’s 2020 campaign.
Alex Bruesewitz, a GOP strategist who mulled but ultimately declined a bid for Congress, is also joining the campaign.
Trump said the new hires were a show of strength and enthusiasm in his campaign.
“We’re leading in almost all Polls, in some cases leading by A LOT, despite the fact that the Fake News is pulling out all stops for their Radical Left San Francisco Liberal, Kamala Harris,” he posted on Truth Social. “The Enthusiasm is GREAT, and the Management Team, headed up by Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, is THE BEST.”
“Many people want to join the Campaign for the final push, some from the first two Campaigns – And we want as many as we can get!” he added.
Alex Floyd, the rapid response director for the Democratic National Committee, decried the move and highlighted Lewandowski’s past controversies.
“Donald Trump loves to double down on a losing strategy. Trump is surrounding himself with people who share his values – namely crooks, convicts, and creeps,” he said in a statement. “The company Trump keeps should tell voters everything they need to know – that he is entirely unfit for office.”
Other Democrats suggested that the staff hirings came in response to a tightening of the polls in the race between him and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Politico first reported on the new moves.
At the moment Harris has a 1.1 percentage point lead over Trump in the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of national polling in a five-way race.
Trump is ahead in the RCP’s no-tossup Electoral College map.
