Corey Lewandowski: from peace officer, to campaign manager for Donald J. Trump

Former Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski shared the story of his meteoric rise from congressional staffer, to peace officer, to campaign manager for the future president of the United States, Pres. Donald J. Trump during testimony at a House Oversight committee hearing. The hearing was either combative or encouraging, depending on whether the congressman asking the questions was Democrat or Republican.

Here is his edited testimony:
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Chairman Nadler, ranking members, and members of the committee, good afternoon.

As you know, I have already testified before congress at three separate occasions. I sat with the special counsel, and there also, my answers were given freely. I one form or another, I have answered questions for well over 20 hours. So here I am again. Just last week, this committee, over the objections of the minority, overwhelmingly changed the rules, which is very unfair, however, in a spirit of cooperation, I will go forward today.

I want to discuss what brought us to this point my story of joining the Trump campaign, working through his historic election, and continuing to have the privilege to be part of the greatest political movement in our nation’s history.

I present this summary in an effort of truth and transparency to the American people, the very same reason and rationale that this committee offers as a reason for this hearing. Growing up in a blue-collar, single parent family in Massachusetts, I learned the value of hard work, and that work ethic helped put me through college and graduate school.
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I helped me become a congressional staffer and ultimately a certified peace officer in the State of New Hampshire. However, the world of politics was always a passion, and in January 2015, Donald J. Trump, then a private citizen, asked me to help him to explore a possible run for the president. It was an honor and a privilege to play such a small part.

The campaign started as a small group of individuals helping Mr. Trump to make the decision in June 2015 to ride down the golden escalator and seek the Republican nomination for the presidency of the United States. For more than a year, I served as campaign manager for then president Trump.

The operation succeeded in helping him capture the Republican nomination. My job was simple: provide Mr. Trump with the best advice, spend his money like it was my own, and give him the support he needed to win. I also set a long-term objectives and managed day-to-day decisions.

I had the privilege, and it was a privilege, of helping transform the Trump campaign from a dedicated but small makeshift organization to a historical and unprecedented political juggernaut, and I am proud to say, Mr. Trump won 38 caucuses and received more votes than any candidate in the history of the Republican Party, all while being outspent most of the way.

His historic campaign helped Mr. Trump secure the Republican nomination and ultimately the presidency of the United States. However, since election day, there were bad actors at the FBI, the Intelligence committee and in the (Democrat) House Majority.

As I have said publicly many times, anyone who attempts to illegally impact the outcome of an election should spend the rest of their life in jail. And let me stress this fact: during the 2016 election cycle, Mr. Trump held no elected position. He was not a government official.

Rather, the Obama-Biden administration and the intelligence community, overseen by James Comey, Jim Clapper, and others, had the responsibility to assure the integrity of the 2016 election. I will leave it to others to determine how successful they were at doing their jobs.

Regardless, as the special counsel has determined, there was no conspiracy or collusion between the Trump campaign and any foreign government either on my watch or afterwards.

It is clear the (Mueller) investigation was populated by many Trump haters who had their own agenda to take down a duly elected president of the United States. As for actual collusion or conspiracy, there was none. What there has been, however, was harassment of this president from the day he won.

We as a nation would be better served if elected officials like yourselves would combat the true crisis facing the country as opposed to going down rabbit holes like this hearing; instead of focusing on petty and personal politics, (we should be) solving the challenges of this generation. Imagine how many people we could help or how many jobs we could save?

​As I stated earlier, I have spoken with the special counsel for hours. I’ll continue to be forthright and cooperative, and I will be as sincere in my answer as this committee is in its questions.

​​© 2019 Larry Ingram