“If I open a small business, I’m a bad guy. If I go inside the administration, I’m a bad guy," Corey Lewandowski says. | AP Photo Lewandowski: I won't ‘become a swamp creature’

Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s first campaign manager whose move to form an outside consulting firm has prompted accusations of hypocrisy, said Thursday that his “goal isn’t to go and become a swamp creature.”

Speaking on Fox News, Lewandowski was dismissive of coverage in news outlets that questioned whether his transition to political consulting is consistent with Trump’s campaign promise to “drain the swamp” to rid Washington of corrupt influences.


“I love the mainstream media. They’ve been so good to me this election cycle,” Lewandowski said sarcastically. “Why would they want to get it right for the first time?”

“Look, it’s amazing,” he continued. “If I open a small business, I’m a bad guy. If I go inside the administration, I’m a bad guy. If I’m unemployed, I’m a statistic. You can’t win with the mainstream media sometimes.”

Lewandowski insisted that his work outside the White House will involve working with interest groups to coordinate support for Trump’s agenda. It would also include consulting — but he claimed not lobbying — for corporations “who want to get a fast answer from the government.”

“If I can be a resource to corporations who want to get a fast answer from the government and not a long maybe, I think that’s a value add that I can potentially provide, so look, that’s what the goal is here,” he said. “The goal isn’t to go and become a swamp creature or to become a lobbyist. I'm not going to be a lobbyist. It’s not going to happen.”

When asked directly, Lewandowski, who was previously registered as a lobbyist, also denied that the firm represents his “Plan B.”

POLITICO reported earlier this week, though, that Lewandowski had options to work for the president-elect in the White House, but not the senior job he wanted. He ran Trump's campaign through the Republican primaries but was fired in June after clashing with others on the team.