Republican consultant suing Donald Trump

A GOP consultant has filed a $4 million defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump and his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, claiming the men launched a smear campaign against her after she criticized Trump's debate style during an interview with Megyn Kelly.

In her suit, Cheryl Jacobus says during the Jan. 27, 2016, episode of Morning Joe, Lewandowski "wrongly and maliciously" said she was talking about Trump because he turned her down multiple times for a job. On Feb. 2, Trump tweeted that Jacobus "begged us for a job" and when the campaign said no, "she went hostile. A real dummy!" The suit says once the tweet was published, Jacobus was "inundated with an avalanche of vicious ridicule and scorn" by Trump supporters, and even after her lawyer sent a cease and desist letter on Feb. 3, Trump tweeted two days later that she was a "major loser" with "zero credibility."

Jacobus says in her suit that Trump reached out to her on May 17, 2015, and she later found out he wanted her to become his communications director. During one meeting, Lewandowski told her Trump was "very close to Roger Ailes, the head of FOX, and that after the campaign Trump could probably pick up the phone and get Jacobus a FOX contract." Jacobus said she declined the job offer because Lewandowski was a "powder keg," and a Fox News spokeswoman said Trump does not have that kind of influence over Ailes, the New York Daily News reports.

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Also on Monday, Trump's field director, Stuart Jolly, told ABC News he is "voluntarily leaving" the campaign because it's time for "new leadership to take the reins." Jolly was tasked with going to states ahead of their primaries to hire volunteers and build ground operations.