Ex-Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski Joins His 2024 Rival — With Trump’s Blessing

Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, has reportedly received his old boss’s blessing to join a Super PAC supporting Vivek Ramaswamy in 2024.

Politico reports that:

Lewandowski has talked with American Exceptionalism PAC, an outside group that has been set up to bolster the candidacy of Ramaswamy, according to three people familiar with the discussions. The longtime GOP operative, who for a time led Trump’s 2016 campaign and has remained an ally of the ex-president, approached Trump within the last several weeks to tell him about the prospect of him joining the organization.

Trump did not raise any objections, according to those people familiar with the talks.

Lewandowski was previously at the head of a pro-Trump Super PAC until allegations of sexual misconduct toward a donor resulted in his ouster.

Lewandowski’s move to join Ramaswamy’s camp via the American Exceptionalism PAC comes “amid a seemingly growing alliance between Trump and Ramaswamy,” according to Politico, which noted the longshot’s reticence to criticize the frontrunner, and eagerness to launch broadsides against other candidates.

“I am pleased to see that Vivek Ramaswamy is doing so well in the most recent Republican Primary Poll. He is tied with Mike Pence, and seems to be on his way to catching Ron DeSanctimonious,” said Trump last week.

“The thing I like about Vivek is that he only has good things to say about ‘President Trump,’ and all that the Trump Administration has so successfully done,” he continued.

For his part, Ramaswamy has explicitly stated that he is “not running against President Trump,” prompting National Review‘s Charles C.W. Cooke to accuse him of “running as Donald Trump’s obsequious press secretary.

“Lewandowski’s presence at American Exceptionalism PAC could have the effect of bolstering Trump,” offered Politico, because “with Lewandowski involved, top Republicans believe it would be inconceivable that the super PAC would target the former president, and would most likely focus its fire elsewhere.”

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