The Trump campaign didn't announce key endorsements because staff couldn't agree on a press release

Trump campaign staff is at odds with one another.

(Image credit: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

published 6 June 2016

Donald Trump's campaign operation is in disarray, NBC News reports, and that disorganization has led to one missed opportunity after another. Case in point: Trump's top adviser Paul Manafort landed the candidate a "raft of endorsements from local supporters" in California, news which was supposed to be announced via a press release last week. But that release never came, as campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and press secretary Hope Hicks "vetoed draft after draft," according to NBC, evidence of the divide forming among Trump's top-level staff.

This flub is just one of many resulting from the animosity that exists within Team Trump:

Making things difficult is the ongoing rivalry between Trump's top adviser Paul Manafort, who was brought in to professionalize the campaign in March, and longtime staff like campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and press secretary Hope Hicks, who is essentially the lone media contact for reporters.While Manafort handles every aspect of the campaign outside of travel and communications, per the source, Lewandowski and Hicks actually join Trump on the road and have his ear on a moment-to-moment basis. The source described the two as determined to block Trump from voices that might undermine their control, which has made hiring new senior staffers difficult despite the obvious need. [NBC]

Internal antagonism is far from the only organizational problem plaguing Trump's campaign. Read the full rundown on Trump's operational issues — and how some within the campaign think they could cost their candidate the general election — over at NBC News.