Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump late Friday fired Roger Stone, his marketing campaign supervisor, over considerations about Stone’s loyalty to the billionaire businessman’s run for Republican presidential nomination.
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Veteran political consultant Stone said his departure was spurred by Trump’s decision to continue trash-talking Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly after Thursday night’s debate. “We now have a tremendously profitable marketing campaign, and Roger needed to make use of the marketing campaign for his personal private publicity”.
Unconfirmed reports claim that Stone allegedly quit on Friday.
Stone contradicted that version of events, CNN said, by providing the media organization with his resignation letter Saturday. “In fact, it catapulted you instantly into a commanding lead in the race…Unfortunately, the current controversies involving personalities and provocative media fights have reached such a high volume that it has distracted attention from your platform and overwhelmed your core message…With this current direction of the candidacy, I no longer can remain involved in your campaign”.
“I can’t believe Roger got out-Trumped, that he got out-Stoned”, one of Stone’s friends said.
His campaign said Saturday that Trump was referring to her nose when he said “wherever”, but the attempt at a clarification did little to quell the criticism.
Donald Trump fired Roger Stone after a series of articles, not about Trump, but about Stone. “Diasagree [sic] with diversion to food fight with @megynkelly away core issue messages”, the tweet read.
Stone, who began his political career in college working on Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President and has since worked for Ronald Reagan and Bob Dole, used to head Trump’s casino lobbying efforts in Washington. Instead, Stone felt Trump had taken the debate to a “circus-like place”.
Hope Hicks, a campaign spokeswoman for Trump, confirmed the separation Saturday in an e-mail, describing it as a firing.
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“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her – wherever”, Trump said of Kelly in the CNN interview.
