Getty Trump insists 'great unity' in campaign

Donald Trump's campaign has perhaps never been as unified as it is now, the Republican nominee tweeted Wednesday, amid a cascade of recent reports suggesting anything but internal harmony.

"There is great unity in my campaign, perhaps greater than ever before," Trump wrote, adding, "I want to thank everyone for your tremendous support. Beat Crooked H!"


Trump's first tweet of the day follows multiple media reports about discord and unease within his campaign, including the firing of at least two senior aides that POLITICO's Kenneth Vogel and Alex Isenstadt reported was an internal shakeup.

Citing a longtime ally of Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, CNBC correspondent John Harwood tweeted Tuesday that Manafort is "not challenging Trump anymore. Mailing it in. Staff suicidal." Jason Miller, Trump's senior communications adviser, responded with a Federalist article critiquing Harwood's performance as a moderator at CNBC's debate last October.

@JohnJHarwood "...known to be unabashedly liberal and very biased against conservatives." https://t.co/k1lqXVtvAd — Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) August 3, 2016





NBC News' Ali Vitali cited a Trump campaign source responding to Harwood's tweet who called it "all true" and "way worse than people realize."

A Trump campaign source, in reax to this, tells me "it's all true" and "way worse than people realize." https://t.co/nvioNcjMCJ — Ali Vitali (@alivitali) August 3, 2016





Miller followed up with another public statement to Harwood via Twitter, calling the notion of Manafort "mailing it in ... completely erroneous."

.@JohnJHarwood No need to chalk this up to an anonymous source, this is from me: pic.twitter.com/cSSt7DxVgF — Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) August 3, 2016





Ousted campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, appearing on CNN's "New Day," rejected the notion of a team in chaos.

"Look, I've been part of that team. I know what the people are like on that team. I hired a lot of those people on the team. They will do anything," Lewandowski declared. "They get up every day with one sole mission, which is to get Donald Trump elected president of the United States. That's what their job is. That's what they want to do. They're there because they want to be there, because they fundamentally want to change Washington, D.C."

Lewandowski also dismissed reported campaign frustrations with Trump picking fights with the Republican establishment, as he did Tuesday by refusing to endorse either House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) or New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte.

"I think you have people, the media, who say this is not the way to run a conventional campaign. He's not a conventional candidate. What has worked for him is driving the media narrative and there are some people who have been involved in campaigns in the past who don't understand that yet," Lewandowski remarked.

Manafort, who clashed with Lewandowski throughout their time on the campaign, "understands that" Trump is a different kind of candidate, suggesting that the campaign's newer hires do not fully grasp what the Republican nominee is trying to do.

"Paul understands Donald Trump because he's been there a long time. There are new people coming into the fold who don't understand that," Lewandowski explained. "Look, Donald Trump speaks for Donald Trump. And people who want to backtrack on what Donald Trump is saying, that's not the way this campaign has been. That's not the way the campaign should be. Donald Trump is the best messenger for this campaign. He knows precisely what he wants to say. And he is the one who's driving that narrative."