Corey Lewandowski fired by Trump campaign
Donald Trump fired his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Monday morning, CBS News has confirmed.
Trump's spokeswoman Hope Hicks, confirmed the parting of ways in a statement that announced, "Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign," adding that the campaign was "grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future."
Lewandowski was at home in New Hampshire for Father's Day and flew to New York Monday morning, and he participated in a "daily messaging" conference call with the RNC. Afterward, the Trump campaign held a conference call without him, run by campaign chairman Paul Manafort, to discuss Lewandowski's termination.
A growing chorus of Republican voices, including Trump's children, had called for Lewandowski's ouster. Ivanka Trump urged her father to dump Lewandowski, and it appears her word carried significant weight. There were rumors Lewandowski was planting negative stories about Ivanka's husband, Jared Kushner, who has taken a prominent role in the campaign.
Lewandowski's firing complicates the already-confusing organizational structure of the Trump campaign. His portfolio included communications and media relations, finance, stage management, the road show. It is unclear who will now take over his responsibilities.
One source, who traveled with Trump last week, said there was no ill will between Trump and Lewandowski. They appeared to be getting along fine. And in an interview that aired on CNN hours after he was let go, Lewandowski said that he and Trump had "a nice conversation."
The news of Lewandowski's ouster comes as Trump's general election poll numbers have been sliding -- RealClearPolitics, which aggregates polls, does not show a single poll with Trump leading Clinton, and his unfavorable numbers have been rising. The New York Times was the first to report Lewandowski's departure.
But his departure and does little to quell the notion that the Trump campaign is rife with internal controversy and messaging problems -- Trump's statements about arming club-goers (and subsequent walkback) and racial profiling were the latest indication of this.
Trump allies want Lewandowski's firing to be a signal to GOP officials and donors that the candidate is looking to right the ship going into the convention, and that he is open to taking advice after a bad run.
Lewandowski clearly had his detractors in the campaign -- one of the first indications that Lewandowski was gone came from Trump senior adviser Michael Caputo, who tweeted a link to the Wizard of Oz's "Ding dong the witch is dead" song on YouTube.
Ding dong the witch is dead! https://t.co/pSqQwmAGz1 pic.twitter.com/5dE7GMeEK6
— Michael Caputo (@MichaelRCaputo) June 20, 2016
Lewandowski says he's still onboard to head the New Hampshire delegation at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next month. According to the New Hampshire Republican Party rules, Trump cannot remove Lewandowski as chairman of the state delegation. He can only be replaced if he resigns.
Earlier this year, Lewandowski was charged with battery of former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields. Florida officials, however, decided not to prosecute him.
Fields joked Monday that there is an opening for Lewandowski at her former employer.
Hey @CLewandowski_ I hear @BreitbartNews is hiring https://t.co/YKOZqRdi0p
— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) June 20, 2016
CBS News' Sopan Deb, Steve Chaggaris and Jacqueline Alemany contributed to this report.