Corey Lewandowski blamed "weak elected leaders, who want to put their own political interests first" for the ongoing controversy. | Getty Lewandowski calls Priebus 'weak' and a 'failed leader'

Upset as more and more Republicans are abandoning Donald Trump, his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, on Sunday turned on Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, calling him “weak” and a “failed leader.”

Speaking with CNN’s Erin Burnett and Gloria Borger on a pre-debate panel, Lewandowski laid the blame on Priebus for not offering enough of a public defense of Trump in the two days since audio and video footage surfaced revealing that Trump had bragged about groping women in 2005.


“You know what I saw yesterday, and I continue to see today? Weak elected leaders, who want to put their own political interests first,” Lewandowski said. “Reince Priebus is a great example.”

He later added, after reaffirming that he believes Priebus is a “failed leader”: “Where was he today on the talk shows, saying Donald Trump is our leader?”

Aghast at the comments captured in the 2005 video, some Republicans have disavowed Trump’s candidacy and called on him to leave the race. Priebus released a statement Friday condemning the remarks, but he has not revoked his endorsement, although he did cancel his scheduled appearances on the Sunday morning shows.

Trump has also attacked Republicans for abandoning him, tweeting on Sunday morning that, "Tremendous support (except for some Republican 'leadership'). Thank you." He follwed up with, "So many self-righteous hypocrites. Watch their poll numbers - and elections - go down!"

On the panel Sunday evening, hours before Trump was set to face Hillary Clinton in their second debate in St. Louis, Borger pushed back on Lewandowski’s characterization of Priebus as a leader who has refused to bring his party together. As she noted, after Trump clinched the Republican nomination in May, Priebus urged reluctant Republicans to coalesce around his candidacy, to somewhat limited success.

Lewandowski, though, maintained that the party establishment is out of touch with the electorate, citing a recent poll showing that a majority of Republican voters want him to stay in the race.

“Donald Trump has tapped into something that the Republicans have lost in the last 30 years, which is the rank-and-file people out there,” Lewandowski said. “That’s why Donald Trump continues to have 75 percent of the Republicans self-identified supporting Donald Trump, and all the Republican leadership who want to self-preserve themselves, make sure they’re elected in the next cycle, are walking away.”