Before Donald Trump, Kevin Kellems (left) worked for a long line of prominent Republicans, including Sen. Dan Coats (right). | AP Photo Trump aide quits during third week on job, calls experience 'interesting'

An aide to Donald Trump’s campaign resigned Friday, leaving his post just weeks after being hired.

Kevin Kellems, Trump’s director of surrogates, submitted his resignation on Friday, telling colleagues it had been a “brief” and “interesting experience.”


“To whom it may concern: i hereby resign my appointment as Director of Surrogates for Mr. Trump," Kellems wrote in a note sent to staff and acquired by POLITICO. “While brief, it has been an interesting experience, and am proud of the contributions made through our early-phase project endeavors. Also have enjoyed meeting some fine and dedicated individuals throughout the organization. Look forward to running across several of you going forward.”

Kellems was hired in mid-June to manage the often rambunctious Trump allies who go out to speak in defense of the candidate or to push the campaign’s message.

Those surrogates have often made headlines of their own, whether by breaking ranks with the campaign's official line or by making impolitic remarks on cable news.

On March 29, for instance, former “Apprentice” star Omarosa Manigault advised on CNN that Trump fire campaign manager Corey Lewandowski using his signature catchphrase from his NBC reality TV show. Spokeswoman Hope Hicks said then than Omarosa “did not speak for the campaign.” (Lewandowski was eventually fired on June 20.)

Ben Carson, Trump’s former primary rival, has been a one-man gaffe machine as a campaign surrogate — acknowledging that the man he endorsed “has some defects” and musing, “Are there better people? Probably.”

On June 7, Rep. Lee Zeldin, a prominent Trump supporter in New York, pushed back on accusations that the Manhattan mogul had made racist comments by saying, “You can easily argue that the president of the United States is a racist with his policy and rhetoric.”

Later that month, paid CNN contributor Jeffrey Lord, a former Reagan administration official who is one of Trump’s most ardent defenders, said on Brian Stelter’s “Reliable Sources” that fact-checking is another “out-of-touch, elitist, media-type thing.” In March, Lord called MoveOn.org “the new KKK” in an online essay, writing of the progressive advocacy group: “The only difference between this and the days when the progressives were hiding under those white hoods and burning crosses while trying to terrorize newly freed slaves and their white allies? This time around they don’t use hoods and burning crosses to rally the terrorists, they use social media instead.”

Trump had expressed frustration with his surrogate operation days before Kellem’s hiring, reportedly telling his supporters on a conference call that they had received “stupid” instructions.

“Are there any other stupid letters that were sent to you folks?” Trump said in reference to a campaign memo asking his surrogates not to talk about a lawsuit over his defunct real estate seminar program, Trump University. “That's one of the reasons I want to have this call, because you guys are getting sometimes stupid information from people that aren’t so smart.”

Before Trump, Kellems worked for a long line of prominent Republicans, including Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney, and Sens. Dan Coats and Fred Thompson.

Mike Allen, Dan Spinelli and Donovan Harrell contributed to this report.

