Donald Trump's campaign made an aggressive effort in late 2015 to hire current and former staffers of the Koch brothers-linked group Americans for Prosperity, but had limited success,
Buzzfeed reports.
Corey Lewandowski, Trump's campaign manager, used to be AFP's state director in New Hampshire, and his knowledge of the state was credited with Trump's win there following a disappointing second-place finish in Iowa a week earlier where Trump did not have a good ground game.
Trump planned a similar ground attack for the March 1 and 15 primary states, and Lewandowski reached out to AFP's employees in those states who have experience getting out the vote, according to Buzzfeed.
"Anecdotally, I’d say a lot of people have been approached," one source told the website. "It's not surprising. The staff is the best trained and most experienced."
But the Koch's donor network does not contain a lot of Trump fans. They see his many of his policies as opposed to the Koch's libertarian principles.
But some AFP employees did join the Trump camp, and some of those who didn't provided names of others.
Among those who joined:
Former AFP-Nevada state director Charles Munoz, former Oklahoma director Stuart Jolly, former New Hampshire field director Matt Ciepielowski, former AFP vice president Alan Cobb, former Florida field operations director Ken Mayo and former Michigan director Scott Hagerstorm. In addition, Trump campaign lawyer, Don McGahn, has represented Koch-affiliated groups, Buzzfeed noted. And many of the nationwide network of AFP volunteers also are volunteering for the Trump campaign.
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