Team Trump Is Freaking Out Over Corey Lewandowski’s Return

Donald Trump’s new campaign adviser has left the former president’s team worried that there could soon be chaos within their ranks—which might hurt Trump on the field.

Corey Lewandowski’s sudden and mysterious arrival in the Trump campaign earlier this month initially sparked fear of staffing shake-ups.

While Trump referred to Lewandowski, who served as his campaign manager in 2016, as his “personal envoy,” Lewandowski has reportedly referred to himself as the “campaign chairman.” It’s unclear what his job as a senior adviser entails, and the Trumpworld veteran has attempted to distance himself from early reporting that he was positioned above Trump’s campaign co-managers, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles.

Earlier this month, Puck News reported that Lewandowski’s appointment could spell trouble for LaCivita and Wiles. There was early speculation that the decision to hire him, which came straight from Trump (who apparently loves to stoke interpersonal drama, according to one of his ex-advisers), was meant to spark a power struggle among his senior campaign staff.

Both Wiles and LaCivita remain in their positions as the campaign approaches 60 days until the polls open, and serious concerns that anyone will be ousted have faded. But now, a new fear has emerged among Trump’s team.

The concern now is whether any potential infighting or new appointments might create an unwelcome distraction from the race, people familiar with the matter told The Guardian. This could present a problem for Lewandowski, who has a history of stealing the spotlight from Trump with his own alleged misconduct.

In March 2016, Lewandowski was arrested for intentionally grabbing and bruising the arm of a female reporter. He was charged with misdemeanor battery, although the charges were ultimately dropped because there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him. At the time, Trump defended him, telling reporters, “I think it’s a very, very sad day in this country when a man could be destroyed over something like that.”

But Lewandowski was fired a few months later. He reportedly also had some infighting with Paul Manafort, who ultimately replaced him.

Lewandowski was later ousted as the head of the Make America Great Again super PAC in 2021, after he was accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward a Trump donor.

Trump communications director Steven Cheung dismissed The Guardian’s reporting. “All of these fabricated stories about the campaign are nothing more than click bait,” Cheung said. “None of these palace intrigue stories have been remotely correct.”

Political reporter Jake Lahut spoke with four Republicans familiar with discussions about Lewandowski’s new position, and who’ve previously worked with the GOP operative, about what his return could mean for the Trump campaign.

With Lewandowski’s reinstatement into Trump’s presidential campaign, one can expect a steady slate of unwieldy messaging events and chaotic press conferences, the sources told Lahut.

In an effort to increase Trump’s exposure in the news cycle—which has more or less been taken over by his new opponent—without breaking the bank, Lewandowski has reportedly been pushing for smaller events.

There are also some concerns that Lewandowski’s return could create drama within the Trump campaign. “There’s probably shit brewing,” one Trumpworld source told LaHut. “Like the old days.”

Donald Trump’s decision to bring Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Representative Tulsi Gabbard on his presidential transition team has upset a major Republican donor.

Eric Levine wrote a scathing email commenting on Trump’s move, accusing him of “trying to lose” and saying “It is hard to imagine a more destructive announcement.” 

Levine described Kennedy as “an anti-vax kook who sees conspiracies behind every tree and under every bed,” and attacked Gabbard’s past as a former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and co-chair of Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign. Instead, he recommended that “rather than seeking and coveting the endorsement of fringe candidates with fringe policy positions that offend most Republicans and Independents,” Nikki Haley should be on the transition team.

“It is her voters that he should be focusing on,” Levine wrote.

The GOP fundraiser was already a less-than-enthusiastic supporter of Trump’s 2024 campaign, telling Politico last year that the convicted felon “is a metastasizing cancer who if he is not stopped is going to destroy the party.” But in March this year, he had a change of heart, telling other Republicans in a memo that “reluctantly and with reservations, I have decided I will vote for Trump in November.”

Levine’s opinion is a worrying signal for Trump, who still needs Republican donations to mount a strong campaign between now and November. The donor’s views probably mirror that of many other Republicans, donors and rank-and-file alike, who support Trump generally but aren’t diehard MAGA loyalists. His point about Haley may be prescient, as some supporters of Haley’s presidential campaign have already formed a “Haley Voters for Harris” political action group.

Levine called out Trump for focusing on “fringe candidates like RFK and Gabbard” at the end of his message.

“As a former Haley voter and Reagan Republican, I say to you Mr. Trump, speak to me and my follow [sic] Republicans. Reject the fringes. Fight for the middle. If you do not, you will forever be known from this day forward, as the ‘Former President,’” Levine wrote.

J.D. Vance’s press secretary might be even stranger and more frightening than Vance himself.

According to an investigation by The Guardian, the senior aide has a number of connections to far-right think tanks and extremist Christian nationalist groups. Parker Magid was recently promoted to Vance’s press secretary after serving as deputy press secretary since March 2023. Since graduating college in 2021, according to his LinkedIn, Magid has created a troubling “new right” network in a short amount of time.

Before joining Vance’s office, Magid worked for Beck & Stone, a brand consultancy group whose clients include secret societies, “counter-revolutionary” magazines, and think tanks. The firm also has close connections to the Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank that is also filled with Vance allies.

Beck & Stone is led by Austin Stone and Andrew Beck. Beck identifies as a “civilizationist,” a rebrand of Christian nationalism.* Earlier this year, Beck wrote in the Claremont Institute’s online publication that “those who want Christian civilization should prioritize re-Christianizing America, not re-nationalizing Christianity.”

Recently, Beck & Stone has done work for the far-right organization the Society for American Civic Renewal. Beck claims to have “created the brand identity, designed the mark, and crafted the website” for the men-only club, which, according to a Guardian analysis of internal SACR documents, wants to replace the government with an authoritarian “aligned regime” to achieve “civilizational renewal.” Beck also claims to be a member.

Magid, along with Beck and Stone, also attended a private fundraising event for then Senate candidate Blake Masters in November 2021. Masters, like Vance, is a Peter Thiel–backed far-right political candidate who keeps losing elections, most recently failing to win the Arizona Republican primary for a House of Representatives seat.

If you need any more proof that Trump’s pick of Vance for vice president shows a frightening vision for a more extremist, Christian nationalist country, just take a look at the company he keeps.

* This article was updated to clarify that Andrew Beck was not a co-founder of the Claremont Institute.

Earlier this month, the Georgia state election board voted to make it easier for county election officials to delay or refuse certification of election results. But internal emails obtained by Rolling Stone and American Doom reveal that the 3–2 vote along MAGA lines was fueled by a “wishlist” of documents to the board’s Donald Trump supporters from conservative county election officials.

“Thank you all for agreeing to provide input on this proposed Rule for Certification Documents needed for Superintendents prior to certification,” Dr. Janice Johnston, a Georgia State election board member, wrote on May 12. “What documents and reports do you need to certify the election results?”

That month, despite acknowledging in emails that the errors he had found had only affected “a few ballots,” Gwinnett County election board member—and local election denier—David Hancock demanded more materials to prove that the election had been rigged.

In one such email, Hancock claimed that tens of thousands of Georgia voters were registered to vote in other states. Johnston seemingly agreed with the evidenceless claim, forwarding an email containing 27,000 duplicate registrations that she believed were a “perfect match” for Hancock’s pitch.

“Assuming this data is correct, the systemic problem is either a failure to detect duplicate registrations or a failure to remove duplicate registrations,” Johnston wrote.

The new election certification rules set the stage for chaos come November, especially considering that at least 70 election officials across 16 counties in key swing states, including Georgia, have been identified as pro-Trump election deniers.

Trump praised the MAGA members of Georgia’s board days before the vote, describing Johnston, Rick Jeffares, and Janelle King as “pit bulls fighting for victory.”

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the Georgia State Election Board is in a very positive way,” Trump said at his rally in Atlanta. “They’re on fire, they’re doing a great job.”

According to the state election board’s website, the body is “entrusted with a variety of responsibilities and authority to protect all Georgians’ right to cast a ballot.”

“If anyone needed further proof that Donald Trump’s ‘pit bulls’ for ‘victory’ are working in concert with his 2020 election denying attorney, Cleta Mitchell, here it is,” Georgia Democratic Party Chair and U.S. Representative Nikema Williams said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “They’re determined to establish a new power of not certifying an election result should their preferred candidate lose—as Trump did in 2020.”

Georgia has had the largest number of certification refusals since 2020 of anywhere in the country. The five-person board has been accused of ethics violations—including one instance in which its Trump-friendly majority failed to give proper notice to their Democratic colleagues about a meeting that they used to advance changes to state election rules.

Previously unaired footage of Representative Nancy Pelosi around January 6, 2021, shows the former speaker’s unfiltered rage against Donald Trump for leading his supporters to the Capitol.

The footage, captured by Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra Pelosi, shows the events of January 5, 6, and 7, including the former House speaker’s evacuation from the Capitol.

“I do not support this,” Pelosi told security personnel as she was escorted out of the Capitol, according to a review of the footage by Politico. “If they stop the proceedings, they will have succeeded in stopping the validation of the presidency of the United States.”

She criticized the Capitol police and other security officials for being caught off guard.

“How many times did the members ask, ‘Are we prepared? Are we prepared?’ We’re not prepared for the worst,” Pelosi said. “We’re calling the National Guard, now? It should’ve been here to start out. I just don’t understand it. Why do we empower people this way by not being ready?”

Pelosi and other congressional leaders were sent to Fort McNair and watched news footage while they waited for the Capitol to be secured. After Trump’s video statement praising the rioters, repeating his allegations of a stolen election, and telling rioters to go home, they were furious.

“We shouldn’t let him off the hook, Nancy. We issued a statement saying he’s got to make a statement. He comes up with this BS,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, referring to Trump.

“Insurrection. That’s a crime, and he’s guilty of it,” Pelosi replied a minute later.

After finally leaving the Capitol after midnight, Pelosi began to plan how to respond to Trump and the unrest he had fomented.

“I just feel sick about what he did to the Capitol and the country today,” Pelosi said as she sat exhausted in the back of her SUV. “He’s got to pay a price for that.”

The footage also captured Pelosi on the morning of January 7, preparing to return to the Capitol and planning how to respond to the actions of the previous day. She spoke to top aides about remarks she planned to deliver at a press conference, and tried to keep the focus on Trump as opposed to Capitol law enforcement.

“I think our focus has to be on the president. Let’s not divert ourselves,” Pelosi said, responding to communications director Henry Connelly recommending a call for Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to resign.

When another aide followed up that “the press is very focused on this,” Pelosi replied that she didn’t “want to have it on a par with the insurrection and impeachment and all of that.”

But, Pelosi didn’t want to say definitively that the House would impeach Trump, because she wasn’t sure she would have every House Democrat on board, particularly the conservative Blue Dog faction.

Pelosi also asked her aides for a list of Trump’s cabinet so that she could identify them by name in her statement to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and have him removed from office. She said she intended to describe the future convicted felon as a “domestic enemy in the White House.” 

“Let’s not mince words about this,” Pelosi said. Her statement would end up leaving out the domestic enemy line as well as Trump’s cabinet.

Republicans on the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee have already issued a statement criticizing Pelosi for shifting “the focus of the failure on President Trump” rather than taking “responsibility for her failure to secure the Capitol grounds on January 6.” But, other footage released earlier this year hasn’t exactly helped their cause. Meanwhile, special counsel Jack Smith is reviving the case against Donald Trump for his actions on that day.