As Donald Trump’s victory became increasingly apparent on Tuesday night, tensions behind the scenes were reportedly already ramping up between those vying for influence in the president-elect’s future administration.
Specifically, Trump’s 2024 campaign chief Chris LaCivita and Corey Lewandowski, who ran his 2016 campaign, were said to be at each other’s throats.
According to Politico, as more and more states were called in favor of the Republican, Lewandowski – who had been sidelined by the Trump campaign after having previously been a prominent member of the 2016 campaign – approached LaCivita with an outstretched hand to offer his congratulations.
“F*** you, f*** you and f*** you. You have f***** with the wrong person,” came the reply, with LaCivita reportedly pointing his finger into Lewandowski’s chest. “I’m going to f***ing destroy you.”
Lewandowski was brought into the 2024 Trump campaign in late summer but later cut out for allegedly planting a number of negative stories about LaCivita, many of which appeared in The Daily Beast.
One in particular suggested he had personally pocketed $22 million off Trump campaign entities in two years, which reportedly drew the ire of the president-elect. LaCivita was forced to produce bank statements and FEC reports to prove his innocence.
A legal letter sent on November 5 to The Beast by high-profile lawyer Mark Geragos, demanded corrections and retractions to a number of articles about LaCivita – and blamed Lewandowski specifically for the stories.
“The Daily Beast, through its reporters… with actual malice and in knowing reliance on unreliable information provided by Corey Lewandowski and others in a blatant act against Mr. LaCivita and the RNC,” the letter stated.
“We hereby demand that The Daily Beast take immediate steps to retract the statements identified above and update its readers that the allegations in the Articles about the amount of money Chris LaCivita was paid by the Trump campaign is false.”
LaCivita declined to comment on the legal action, but posted a cryptic message on X on Wednesday. Alongside a picture of fictional mob boss Tony Soprano with his middle finger raised, he wrote: “If you know why i am posting this … then well … you know.”
Trouble reportedly began when Trump approached Lewandowski in August, following a period in which he reportedly became restless and tired of the constraints being put on him by his campaign managers – LaCivita and his boss Susie Wiles – The Atlantic reported earlier this month.
The president-elect told Lewandowski that he missed the “fun,” of his first run for the White House in 2016 and asked him to join the team, according to the outlet. But before Lewandowski even began, he reportedly complained to friends that Wiles and LaCivita had leaked the news of his hiring in an unflattering light, and that his role had been downplayed by the duo.
Over the next couple of months, Lewandowski was accused of “rolling grenades” into every department of the Trump campaign, and telling staffers that he was a personal spokesperson for the president-elect.
According to The Atlantic, Wiles gave Trump an ultimatum on September 12, after which he gave her a vote of confidence. The next day he convened all three advisors, telling Lewandowski: “We can’t afford to lose these guys… They’re in charge.”
Following the stories in The Beast and the subsequent legal action by LaCivita, Lewandowski told the outlet that he won’t be joining the next Trump administration. He also denied previous knowledge of the accusations against him.
“The campaign is over — we’re focused on delivering the promises President Trump made to the tens of millions of Americans who supported MAGA” he told Politico.
