Hogan Gidley says he isn’t ‘shocked’ by Trump replacing campaign manager
Bill Stepien replaces Brad Parscale as Trump 2020 campaign manager; White House Principal Deputy Press secretary Hogan Gidley clarifies both members are working towards victory for the president on ‘America’s Newsroom.’
Trump campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley said on Thursday that Brad Parscale was not demoted but rather shifted into a digital strategy position on the Trump campaign team.
“While the D.C. elite and the establishment and the media really care about the palace intrigue stories like this, it doesn’t really affect the American people at all. Titles consume so many here in the Beltway bubble but for those at home they just want to make sure their lives are better,” Gidley told “America’s Newsroom.”
TRUMP REPLACES CAMPAIGN MANAGER
Brad Parscale’s abrupt move Wednesday night “shocked” some inside the Trump campaign, sources familiar with the move told Fox News, even as President Trump’s sliding poll numbers and the recent Tulsa rally debacle had raised questions about his future.
The president announced on Facebook and later on Twitter Wednesday night that Parscale would be replaced as campaign manager by Bill Stepien, who had served as deputy campaign manager.
Parscale, who ran Trump’s digital operations in 2016 and was promoted to Trump’s right-hand man for the 2020 cycle, is expected to shift back to his previous role.
Two top campaign officials told Fox News that Parscale will serve as a senior adviser focusing entirely on the campaign’s digital operation and data collection.
Gidley said that Stepien is smart, talented, politically savvy and has been in and out of Washington D.C., his entire career, and that Parscale made an impact for the Trump campaign.
“He’s built something no one thought possible. Raising money at clips that are at historic levels. We’ve raised enough money where Joe Biden would have to raise more than a million dollars a day to even come close to catching us and he still wouldn’t do it,” Gidley said.
“Brad’s going to focus on one thing, Bill is going to focus on the other, but both are working toward victory for the American people and that means a victory for Donald Trump,” Gidley said.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
Speculation has swirled for weeks about Parscale’s future, as Trump has fallen behind Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden by double digits in multiple polls, and as the campaign struggled to fill seats for the president’s rally last month in Tulsa, Okla.
A source familiar with the situation said that Parscale indeed had been losing influence as of late with other campaign officials, including Stepien, exerting more power. Stepien joined the campaign in May as deputy campaign manager after serving as a political director at the White House.
There was also the return of Stephanie Alexander, who was on the campaign in 2016 and returned in May as campaign chief of staff.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox