Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her two brothers played a major role in the decision to fire the presumptive GOP nominee's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, according to new reports.
The Trump camp dumped Lewandowski Monday morning after the New York real estate magnate had his regular strategy meeting with children, Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric, for their regular strategy meeting at Trump Towers in Manhattan, reports
New York magazine.
Lewandowski was also at the meeting, and according to one senior Trump staffer, "things went south for Lewandowski, and he was fired."
Soon, Lewandowski was escorted from the building and by security, leaving Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign manager, fully in charge of the campaign.
The staffer described Lewandowski's ouster as the result of a "coup" by Trump's children, and
NBC News reports that Ivanka Trump in particular has been pushing for her father to release Lewandowski for some time.
Sources told NBC that Trump's daughter, who holds a great deal of influence with her father, was unnerved for "months" after former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields accused him of assaulting her while she was trying to ask the candidate a question. Trump stayed loyal to Lewandowski after the scandal, but after his poll numbers started to drop, his adult children were able to make their case to release Lewandowski, NBC reports.
However, the sources told NBC that the final decision to fire Lewandowski was Trump's and the presumptive nominee told the now-former campaign manager in a "direct conversation."
Multiple sources said that Trump had made the decision because of many problems within the campaign that had become public, and the operation was in trouble while his poll numbers were dropping and his image problems were growing.
Lewandowski had also clashed often with Manafort, who was initially brought in amidst talk of a contested convention earlier this spring. After Trump's last rivals, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich dropped out of the race, Manafort's role shifted to being more in charge of the Trump campaign.
Manafort has been pushing for Trump to make the shift toward a more traditional campaign, while Lewandowski wanted to allow Trump to continue his more unconventional campaign that resulted in his coming out ahead of 16 other candidates.
And while Trump's campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks, who was seen this spring arguing in the streets of New York with Lewandowski, said in a statement that the campaign was "grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future," a tweet from Trump's New York state director
Michael Caputo just after the news broke implied something else entirely:
In comments later, Lewandowski said he did not think "it was true at all" that the younger Trumps pushed for his firing.