Lewandowski: Trump’s comm team needs ‘pre-existing relationship’ with him

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said on Wednesday that President Trump “knows the media” better than his communications staff and works better with people “who had a pre-existing relationship” with Trump “to understand how the president functions.” 

Trump needs more longtime allies on his communications team, Trump’s former campaign manager said, arguing that those without prior ties to the real estate mogul can’t always “keep up with him.”

“When you have a communications team, they have to have that relationship with the president to understand how he communicates. Because he is the greatest communicator, as a president, we’ve ever had,” he said on “Fox & Friends.” “He’s better than the staff. He knows the media better.”

Lewandowski’s comments came a day after the news broke that White House communications director Michael Dubke had resigned. Dubke, a longtime GOP political operative and strategist, entered the White House in February and was among a small group of staffers that did not have a prior relationship with Trump.

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Lewandowski said that, while Dubke was “very capable,” it is difficult for those outside of Trump’s tightknit inner circle of confidantes and close friends to “keep up” with a president “who is so good at communicating with the media.”

“I think Mike’s a very capable guy,” he said. “I think the difference is he was brought into a job not having a preexisting relationship with the president, and when you have a president who is so active, who is so articulate, who is so good at communicating with the media, sometimes you get staff who have to keep up with him.”

Lewandowski, who left Trump’s campaign amid rumored power struggles within Trump’s inner circle, is reportedly being considered to help run a White House “war room” to help Trump and his aides deal with a mounting set of controversies and potential legal threats.

Lewandowski, who has deployed more regularly in recent weeks as a spokesman on behalf of Trump, maintains that he’s happy promoting Trump causes from outside of the White House.