Former President Donald Trump is making changes to his campaign team as Americans vote early and Election Day is just three weeks away.
He appoints consultant Tim Murtaugh, who also advised his 2020 campaign, as head of communications in his press operation.
The campaign is not being portrayed as a shake-up, and the move comes at a time when Trump has seen an improvement in the polls after getting a boost for the Democratic convention and what her team sees as a successful debate performance.
In his role, he will direct the investigation, rapid response and social media, two sources said Axioswho reported the move.
The news follows signs of an internal power struggle that led Trump campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski to trim his portfolio and take on the role of a prominent surrogate in TV appearances.
When he rejoined the campaign in August, Lewandowski called it an “all hands on deck” moment and called himself a “personal envoy.” He then flew with Trump to his epic debate against Joe Biden.
Former President Donald Trump continues to make changes to his campaign structure with just weeks to go before Election Day
After reports that he had been sidelined by co-campaign manager Susie Wiles, Lewandowski was back on Trump’s campaign plane for his Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A Trump official told the Guardian that Lewandowski “blew himself up” after joining an “entire staff that had been working together for two years.” But Trump has long turned to him for guidance as part of the core group that backed his successful 2016 bid.
Murtaugh himself is a late addition, though he honed his skills in the Trump world during the 2020 campaign.
Trump campaign adviser Tim Murtaugh will oversee investigations, rapid response and social media in his new leadership role
The Trump campaign’s unusual structure means Wiles and Chris LaCivita still hold the top roles, while the candidate still seeks his own counsel on key decisions.
Trump was credited with a relatively disciplined primary effort under Wiles and LaCivita.
But he has had some communication problems in recent weeks, even as he held Vice President Kamala Harris dead even in key “blue wall” states carried by Joe Biden.
On Thursday in Detroit, Trump said that if Harris wins, “the whole country will end up like Detroit.”
That was seen as an own goal on a crucial battlefield, and Harris’ running mate immediately dismissed the comments at a rally in Warren, Michigan.
The Harris camp immediately took out an ad about it, with plans to air it during Sunday’s Detroit Lions game.
Sources told DailyMail.com during the campaign personnel changes in August that it was not a shake-up. Former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said Trump was “superstitious about getting the gang back together” and that he combined “the hunger, swagger, underdog, underrated, joyous work ethic of 2016” with “the equipment of a well-financed, organized , professionalized campaign structure.’
“The Trump campaign has the best communications professionals in politics today. No one else is even close,” Wiles told Axios.
The change comes as Trump and Kamala Harris are tied in the battlegrounds of Pennsylvania and Michigan, all states that Trump won in 2016 but lost to Joe Biden in 2020.
Harris has a lead of about 2 percent in national polls, but it is the battleground states that will determine the outcome.