Donald Trump’s latest hire for his GOP presidential campaign was a vocal critic of the billionaire as recently as a month ago, a new report says.
Sam Clovis, the new national co-chairman for Trump’s campaign, repeatedly attacked his latest employer in a series of emails leaked Wednesday, according to The Des Moines Register.
{mosads}“[Trump] left me with questions about his moral center and his foundational beliefs,” Clovis wrote in a message 35 days before resigning as former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s Iowa chairman. “His comments reveal no foundation in Christ, which is a big deal.”
“[Trump’s] comments were offensive and people responded accordingly,” he wrote in another message dated July 20 about Trump’s criticism of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his tenure as a prisoner of war.
“I was offended by a man who sought and gained four student deferments to avoid the draft and who has never served this nation a day — not a day — in any fashion or way,” added Clovis, who served in the Air Force for 25 years.
Clovis stunned Iowa’s Republicans by jumping ship from Perry’s campaign to Trump’s on Tuesday.
The GOP activist defended his decision on Wednesday in an interview with the Register.
“I was satisfied with his answers,” Clovis said of discussions with Trump over his positions.
“I was recruited and hired because of my skills and abilities,” he added when the issue of his reimbursement was raised. “I’m not going to talk about how much money I’m getting paid – it’s just not going to happen.”
Clovis’s defection earlier this week comes as Perry is struggling with both fundraising and polling numbers on the campaign trail.
Trump’s poaching of the activist is an especially painful blow given Perry’s bitter rivalry with the New York business mogul.
Perry has repeatedly argued that Trump is a false conservative and that his attacks on McCain were a “low moment” in American politics.
Trump has responded by mocking Perry’s intelligence and charging he did not effectively protect Texas’s border security during his tenure as governor.