David Bossie is reportedly taking a leave of absence from Citizens United, the conservative advocacy outfit | Getty Report: Trump hires Citizens United head as deputy campaign manager

Donald Trump has hired David Bossie, a longtime conservative operative and recent president of Citizens United, as his deputy campaign manager, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

"A friend of mine for many years," Trump told The Post about Bossie. "Solid. Smart. Loves politics, knows how to win."


Bossie, who has spent years investigating the Clintons, including as a member of the Senate’s special committee on the Whitewater real-estate scandal, is expected to work closely with Kellyanne Conway, the respected GOP pollster who was promoted to be Trump's campaign manager during a leadership shakeup last month.

"He's a battle-tested warrior and a brilliant strategist," Conway told The Post. "He's a nuts-and-bolts tactician as well, who's going to help us fully integrate our ground game and data operations, and help with overall strategy as my deputy."

Bossie is reportedly taking a leave of absence from Citizens United, the conservative advocacy outfit that has legally challenged a number of President Barack Obama's initiatives. The group is best known for being the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that paved the way for super PACs to upend the campaign finance system.

The Clinton campaign quickly rebuked the hiring of Bossie, whose failed investigation into alleged campaign finance abuses by then-President Bill Clinton ultimately lead to his resignation as chief investigator to former Republican Rep. Dan Burton.

"David Bossie is so craven and maniacal that in the heyday of the overreaching Gingrich-era Congress, the top Whitewater conspiracy theorist in the House had to fire him for doctoring evidence," campaign chair John Podesta said in a statement Thursday night. "He has devoted his career ever since to trying to tear down Hillary Clinton."

Podesta was also sharply critical of his ties to Citizens United, which he claims has acted as an "arm of the Trump campaign" in recent months.

"This is the latest sign that Donald Trump has put the most extreme elements of the right-wing fringe in the driver's seat of his campaign," he said.

Cristiano Lima contributed to this report.