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Ex-aide: Trump didn’t say ‘you’re fired’

by Jesse Byrnes - 06/21/16 8:12 AM ET

"It wasn't like an episode of 'The Apprentice.'" –@CLewandowski_ reacts to Trump dropping him as campaign managerhttps://t.co/Ocil3dtYsC

— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) June 21, 2016

Corey Lewandowski, who was abruptly let go as Donald Trump’s campaign manager Monday, says his firing wasn’t like an episode of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s former reality TV show.

“He didn’t say, ‘Hey, you’re fired.’ It wasn’t like an episode of ‘The Apprentice,’ ” Lewandowski said during an interview Tuesday morning on “Fox and Friends.”

{mosads}Lewandowski said he showed up to work around 6 a.m. Monday for regular meetings, then met with others several hours later and spoke with Trump by phone.

“The idea is that the campaign wants to grow and get bigger and be more robust, and, you know, I’m a small-government guy,” Lewandowski said.

Lewandowski said the same strategy used in the GOP primary needed to change for the general election. “I understand the juggernaut which is the Hillary Clinton campaign,” he said.

Several sources told The Hill that Lewandowski appeared to be oblivious as recently as this weekend about his impending firing from the campaign.

Trump has faced several weeks of negative attention over his rhetoric and proposals since becoming the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in early May and has been roundly attacked by Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Democrats on Monday argued, “Corey Lewandowski is not the problem, it’s Donald Trump.”

Reports have indicated for months that tensions had existed within the highest levels of the Trump campaign involving Lewandowski and other senior aides.

Paul Manafort, the GOP strategist brought on in late March to handle the delegate process, has been in control of campaign operations since early April, according to Lewandowski.

Trump on Tuesday praised Lewandowski as a “great guy” during a later appearance on the Fox News program, saying, “I couldn’t have been happier. We’re going in a different direction.

“I’d give him a 10,” Trump added, saying Lewandowski “did a really good job” managing his campaign as the businessman worked to lock up the GOP nomination.

“He managed beautifully. Now we’re going a different way,” Trump said.

Tags 2016 presidential election Donald Trump Hillary Clinton