Corey Lewandowski gave CNN's Dana Bash a 20-minute Trump campaign exit interview earlier today. Despite Bash's commendable efforts to pin him down on anything, Lewandowski repeated his talking points of love for "Mr. Trump" throughout.
I was able to boil the interview down to three key pieces, taking a total of about 3 minutes to watch, because really, who needs to hear the same nonsense over and over again.
First, the opening question about why he was fired. Lewandowski answered, "I don't know."
Which might be the first indicator about why he was fired. If you're clueless about why you don't have a job, maybe you should do some self-evaluation? Just sayin', Corey.
As to the question of whether he was walked out of the building by security, Lewandowski dismissed that as "protocol." I actually agree with him on this. People who are fired or laid off are generally escorted out as quickly as possible by security or Human Resources in order to protect their operation from vengeful sabotage. It's not unusual.
When he talked about how closely integrated Trump's campaign is with the RNC, I found it interesting that he made a point out of highlighting their use of the RNC's fundraising apparatus and data management operation, as opposed to Mitt Romney, who used his own data operation on the cheap.
One of Lewandowski's biggest talking points in that segment is how "lean and mean" the Trump machine is. He brags about their lower pay scale, and actually downplays the fact that Hillary Clinton is building operations out in all 50 states, which is exactly what Democrats should be doing. But most importantly, he makes it abundantly clear that the Trump campaign is meshed with the national Republican Party, and in fact, is representative of the national Republican Party.
Finally, at the end there's a bit of a temper flare when Bash put up Michael Caputo's tweet on the screen and asked Lewandowski about it.
Ding dong the witch is dead! https://t.co/pSqQwmAGz1 pic.twitter.com/5dE7GMeEK6
— Michael Caputo (@MichaelRCaputo) June 20, 2016
Bash referred to Caputo as a "senior campaign advisor," and for the first time, you could see a flare of anger behind Lewandowski's dead eyes.
"Let's just be clear. Michael Caputo is not a senior advisor," Lewandowski snapped. "He has no formal role with the campaign."
He continued, "He is a volunteer and so he doesn't get paid by the campaign. He has no role in the campaign, so he's not involved."
No matter how Bash tried to get him to say anything after that, all he would say is that Caputo was not involved. I sense some tension there. It's the only time in the entire interview I did.
Watch for yourself, and please tell me if you gagged like I did when he talked about only wanting the very, very best for Mr. Trump, because excellence or something.
UPDATE: Trump advisor Michael Caputo has resigned
"I regret sending out a tweet today alluding to the firing of Corey Lewandowski. In hindsight, that was too exuberant a reaction to this personnel move. I know this is a distraction from the kind of campaign you want to run, so I'm resigning my position as director of communications for caucus operations at the 2016 Republican Convention. Let's make this immediate," Caputo wrote in a letter to campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, according to a copy obtained by CNN.
Oh, so he wasn't just a volunteer, then?
