A top aide for Donald Trump has resigned amid a campaign staff shake-up.
National field director Stuart Jolly resigned on Monday after a top staff reorganization that would have forced him to report to Rick Wiley, a newly hired political director, according to Politico. Jolly, who is a close friend of campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, said in an interview with The Washington Post that it was time to “let the new team have a shot at it.”
Trump told his staffers this weekend that he was handing over the campaign’s reins to new hires Paul Manafort and Wiley, who he hopes will professionalize the campaign as the delegate race heats up, Politico reported. In delegate selection battles, which appoint delegates to represent their states at the Republican convention who will not necessarily be bound to their states’ primary results, Cruz has far outperformed Trump. Many of Trump’s early staffers, including Jolly, had no previous experience in national political campaigns.
“I went out on my own—I wasn’t pushed out or forced out,” Jolly told the Post. “I wasn’t asked to leave, quite the opposite. It’s been a good ride. I would do it all again.”
Coins2Day has reached out to the Trump campaign and will update this post with a spokesperson’s reply.