Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump will hold a press conference at his New Jersey golf club on Thursday in what will be his latest attempt to steal the spotlight from Democratic rival Kamala Harris, who has been hogging the headlines since her late entry into the race.
Trump’s schedule is meant to contrast with Vice President Harris, who has rarely taken questions from reporters since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in late July. Harris has said she plans to do her first formal press interview by the end of the month.
Trump held a similar press event at his Florida resort last week, where he spoke for more than an hour, attacking Harris on immigration and the economy and falsely claiming that her campaign crowd was much larger than his.
The Harris campaign sent out a fake “media advisory” for Trump’s press conference on Thursday with the headline, “Donald Trump will speak incoherent things and spread dangerous lies publicly, but in a different house,” which was a reference to his Bedminster estate.
Hours earlier, the Trump campaign announced five appointments, including Corey Lewandowski, who served as Trump’s first campaign manager during his successful 2016 campaign. Lewandowski expressed his joy at joining the campaign, posting on X: “Let Trump be Trump!”
It was not immediately clear what these additions would mean for the campaign’s day-to-day operations and hierarchy. One campaign official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal personnel matters, said the campaign needed more “troops” in the final months of the race and that the appointments were not a sign of any sweeping changes.
“Corey Lewandowski, Taylor Budovich, Alex Pfeiffer, Alex Bruskewitz and Tim Murtaugh are all veterans of Trump’s past campaigns and their unmatched experience will help President Trump prosecute the most radical ticket in American history, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Trump co-campaign managers Chris Lacivita and Suzy Wiles said in a statement.
Budovich was most recently the executive director of MAGA Inc., the main outside super PAC supporting Trump’s bid, while Pfeiffer served as communications director there. It’s common for staffers to move between campaigns and their affiliated super PACs, as it can give each organization more visibility into the other’s operations. Legally, campaigns and super PACs have limits on how much they can coordinate.
Bruesewitz is a pro-Trump political consultant known for his social media savvy, and Murtaugh was the communications director for Trump’s unsuccessful 2020 bid.
Lewandowski was ousted from Trump’s 2016 bid just months before the election, though Trump later said he regretted it. Lewandowski was later ousted from a pro-Trump super PAC in 2021 after the wife of a donor accused him of unwanted sexual advances.
A campaign official said Trump intends to criticize Harris over inflation and the economy at Thursday’s press conference.
His campaign event in North Carolina on Wednesday was also said to be focused on the economy, but Trump at times raised other topics and personal attacks on Harris.
Harris is scheduled to deliver a speech on economic policy in North Carolina on Friday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)