Donald Trump's national political director leaves campaign
On Wednesday night, the Donald Trump campaign announced it had parted ways with Rick Wiley, its national political director.
Campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not respond to Politico's inquiry of whether Wiley was fired or resigned, but sources say he was fired. Wiley was hired by Paul Manafort, who joined the Trump campaign in late March as chairman, and sources say he never clicked with campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Sources tell Politico Wiley also clashed with Karen Giorno, who ran Trump's campaign during the Florida Republican primary. He would often refuse to take her calls or return her emails, and after she shared this information with Trump, he ordered Wiley to keep away from Giorno and not call her or email her, the sources said.
In a statement, the Trump campaign said Wiley was "hired on a short-term basis as a consultant until the campaign was running full steam," and now it is "doing better than ever." A Trump source told Politico that Wiley, who served as campaign manager for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) during his failed bid for the Republican nomination, "has RNC tattooed on his forehead. He's not part of the Trump culture. Wiley was someone who didn't understand what we were able to do, and he wasn't interested in being a part of the team in the end anyway."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
Constitutional rights are at the center of FBI agents’ lawsuitIn the Spotlight The agents were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
-
Ex-FBI agents sue Patel over protest firingspeed read The former FBI agents were fired for kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest for ‘apolitical tactical reasons’
-
Trump unveils $12B bailout for tariff-hit farmersSpeed Read The president continues to insist that his tariff policy is working
-
Trump’s Comey case dealt new setbackspeed read A federal judge ruled that key evidence could not be used in an effort to reindict former FBI Director James Comey
