Donald Trump adviser Michael Caputo has stepped down after tweeting, “Ding dong the witch is dead!” with a link to the song from “The Wizard of Oz,” shortly after staffers learned that campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was let go on Monday.
Caputo was to going to serve as Trump’s Director of Communications at next month’s GOP convention, but campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks confirmed to the Associated Press that he was no longer with the campaign.
“I regret sending out a tweet today alluding to the firing of Corey Lewandowski. In hindsight, that was too exuberant a reaction to this personnel move. I know this is a distraction from the kind of campaign you want to run, so I’m resigning my position as director of communications for caucus operations at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Let’s make this immediate,” Caputo wrote in a letter to campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, according to CNN.
https://twitter.com/MichaelRCaputo/status/744889850914971648
Trump’s children are reportedly at least partially responsible for the decision to shake up the campaign, and Lewandowski told CNN he doesn’t know why he was fired.
CNN’s Dana Bash asked Lewandowski why he was let go. “I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that,” he replied.
“But what I know is that what we’ve been able to achieve in this election cycle was historic,” Lewandowski continued. “I had a nice conversation with Mr. Trump and I said to him, ‘It’s been an honor and a privilege to be a part of this, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.’”
Eric and Ivanka Trump have reportedly been critical of Lewandowski, who has mentioned on Twitter in the past that he signed a strict confidentiality agreement.
“The Donald J. Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign,” the campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said in a statement to the New York Times. “The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future.”