Corey Lewandowski, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, has joined Vice President Mike Pence's political action committee, Fox News first reported.
The new position "will enable him to travel with the VP and puts him firmly back in the president’s 2020 reelection orbit, say sources familiar with the move," according to Fox News. "Lewandowski discussed the move with Trump before accepting the offer and is taking the job with the president’s blessing, these sources say."
Lewandowski confirmed the news via Twitter Monday. "Proud to be joining the Great America PAC," he wrote, adding that Trump and Pence "continue to fulfill the Camapign [sic] Promises they made to Make America Great Again! The Rep’s will expand majorities in the Senate and hold the House to keep America moving forward."
Lewandowski was Trump's campaign manager for a year and a half leading up to the Republican nomination and was fired by the president in June 2016 ahead of the general election. He was also charged with battery after he was accused of forcibly grabbing a reporter. The charge was eventually dropped, but throughout, he and the president remained close.
Lewandowski was also accused of sexual misconduct by Trump supporter and singer Joy Villa. She filed a report against the strategist alleging that he slapped her butt during a holiday party on Nov. 28. "I was shocked and embarrassed," she tweeted the next month.
Villa described the alleged assault as "almost violent in nature." She said that she tried to contact Lewandowski for an apology, but hasn't heard back.
"I think as someone who has been through this, you understand that there is a due process and there is a process which they will go through to determine a person’s innocence," Lewandowski told Fox Business’ Charles Payne late last year, responding to the claims. "I think you’ve been through, and you understand it and you respect it."
Lewandowski authored the book "Let Trump Be Trump: The Inside Story of His Rise to the Presidency," published last December, and contributed as a political commentator to several cable news networks since he left the Trump campaign. But his new job working alongside Pence means he will leave his current employment with the pro-Trump America First Policies group, where as a nonprofit, he faced some restrictions to open political activity and collaboration with the Trump administration.
"The move will not only deepen Lewandowski’s ties to Trump’s second-in-command but instantly make him a player in the midterms, a growing source of concern for the president," Fox reported. "The Pence committee donated more than $150,000 to Republican congressional candidates in February."
Brian Walsh from America First told CNN that he is "disappointed that we are losing him, but happy that he's joining Great America Committee."
Lewandowski's hiring comes after a New York Times story claimed Pence is "trying to control Republican politics" and reported of tension between the two top political teams.
"It was Trump who asked Lewandowski to sign up with the vice president's team, according to a Republican source," NBC News reported. "Lewandowski's arrival sends a signal that, while Trump and Pence are aligned, Trump is the boss," according to an unnamed "GOP donor who had been informed of Lewandoski's plans."
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