Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is angry with his aides and surrogates for admitting to reporters that he underperformed in Monday night's debate, CNN reports.
Trump spoke with his allies on Wednesday, and according to his aides, the candidate was upset that they publicly said they were pushing him to change his debating tactics and preparation before his next contest with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
According to The New York Times, Trump's allies are defending his performance, saying he made good points, but admit that he did miss key opportunities and failed to bring up important points against Clinton.
The Times also reports from unnamed sources that the two leaders of Trump's debate prep were ex-head of Fox News Roger Ailes and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Ailes was reportedly more interested in discussing his own scandals and "recounting political war stories" than in preparing Trump for the debate.
Trump told his team to stop badmouthing his performance immediately and was "not subtle," according to one of CNN's sources.
Instead, his surrogates should enthusiastically support his performance, saying he successfully showed himself as an outsider candidate compared to Clinton's Washington Insider status.
His allies should also focus on his successful one-liners, such as his line about Clinton appearing in the public eye for almost 30 years with little to show for it.
Jason Miller, spokesman for the Trump campaign, denied the account, telling CNN, "The entire description of today's call is completely false and anybody saying otherwise is just making it up."