President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said the president is surrounded by hostile forces and insincere staff who do not have his best interest at heart, during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
“The attacks that this president has faced since the day he won the election … have been unprecedented. And those attacks have come from the media, from the Republican establishment who have never supported candidate Trump and still, by and large, don’t support Donald Trump … and the intelligence community,” Lewandowski told Fox News’ Chris Wallace.
Lewandowski co-authored “Trump’s Enemies: How the Deep State Is Undermining the Presidency” with former deputy campaign manager David Bossie, which is slated for release on Tuesday. Lewandowski said Trump’s greatest threat comes from the intelligence community, which has systematically undermined his presidency because they “simply disagree with [Trump’s] political philosophy.” Lewandrowski calls that “a very scary thing.” (RELATED: Corey Lewandowski Outsmarts Sacha Baron Cohen Prank)
Lewandowksi is also especially critical of people who were critical of Trump before he was president only to experience a Damascus road conversion when Trump won. “Many people who fought to get into the White House are the same people who did everything they could do to try to stop [Trump] from being in the White House.”
The former campaign manager was equivocal in his assessment of Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly.
“The management style that John implemented when he became the chief of staff was one where to limit the access to the president, to make sure that there are protocols and procedures,” Lewandowski said. “Candidly, that was needed when he came into the White House. But I also think you have a president who wants access to individuals who wants to take phone calls. And in our book we interview him and he says, ‘Nobody calls me; I don’t get my messages.'” (RELATED: Kelly Sees ‘Concerted Effort’ To Oust Him As Nielsen Likely Headed For Exit)
Lewandowski took offense when Kelly insisted that both he and Bossie be escorted at all times when they came to the White House to interview staff and conduct research for their book. He would not comment on reports that he and Kelly engaged in a shouting and shoving match in February of this year, saying only that the two of them “have very different management styles.”