Lewandowski won’t rejoin Trump camp: ‘I would be a distraction’

Donald Trump’s former campaign manager says he won’t return to the team even after the departure of rival Paul Manafort. 

{mosads}”I would be a distraction to that campaign, and you know that, and I know that, and I’m very happy having the opportunity to participate through CNN and talk about what I think the campaign is doing right and what they’re doing wrong, both the Trump campaign and the [Hillary] Clinton campaign,” Corey Lewandowski said Friday on CNN. 

“So I’m very happy doing what I’m doing.” 

Manafort resigned Friday as campaign chairman, two days after Trump brought in Stephen Bannon as chief executive and Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager in a major staff shake-up. 

The moves were seen as a de facto demotion for Manafort, even though the campaign stressed that he was keeping his position. Reports cited tension between Manafort and Lewandowski as a central reason the latter was cut from the campaign in June.

Lewandowski said Friday the most recent personnel moves show Trump is serious about winning the presidency and will do anything he can to get the campaign back on track. 

“This is a step the campaign has taken to continue to demonstrate how serious they are, that they are moving forward, that it is ready for the next 81 days,” Lewandowski told CNN.