Donald Trump’s infamous 2016 presidential campaign announcement certainly set the precedent for the rest of his term in office when he flaunted his perceived power and wealth as he rode the golden Trump Tower escalator down with his wife Melania, flocked by a crowd of adoring fans. It was at that very moment we all knew that should he win, he would ruin this country and our lives in every conceivable way. And lo and behold, he absolutely did.
However, according to new information coming out from one of the ex-president’s former aides, Trump’s crowd of adoring fans may have been as fake as his presidential knowledge over the last four years.
A new report from Business Insider is making waves in the media as after Trump’s top 2016 aide recently admitted to the publication that people were paid to show up at the former real estate “mogul’s” big 2016 announcement — despite having previously denied the allegations of paid actors to Insider.
Trump’s 2016 New York City skyscraper announcement immediately drew heavy speculation as people wondered how a washed-up reality TV “star” could have drawn such a sizeable audience.
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Speaking to Insider as part of an oral history project chronicling one of the most unorthodox and unprecedented campaigns in the GOP’s history, deputy campaign manager for 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, Sarah Isgur said, “I remember thinking, ‘Man, I’m surprised he couldn’t even get people there. That seems insane.'”
At the time of Trump’s infamous escalator announcement, The Hollywood Reporter published a report alleging that the Trump campaign had offered people $50 to attend the event.
Then communications director for the 2016 candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, Amanda Carpenter, shared a similar sentiment to Insider, “It seemed strange. I was watching the coverage of ‘Oh, did they pay people to show up? Who were these people?'”
At the time of the reports, Trump’s then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski “unequivocally” denied the allegations of paid actors to Business Insider.
But suddenly, it seems, Lewandowski is now whistling a different tune.
“That’s a Michael Cohen special,” the former Trump campaign manager now claims of the allegations of paid actors. “Michael Cohen decided that he was going to go hire one of his buddies and pay his buddy without getting any campaign approval. You know, $50 for every person to come in, to stand in Trump Tower.”
Cohen doesn’t agree with that assessment, though. Speaking with Insider for the Trump oral-history project, Donald’s former personal attorney and “fixer” claims the now-ex-president hired a partner at the public-relations firm Gotham Government Relations & Communication, David Schwartz, to “professionally” organize the big event.
“Any allegation of payments to actors is an absolute lie that was promoted by Corey Lewandowski,” Cohen asserts.
Schwartz confirmed to Insider that he had, in fact, been hired to put the whole thing together.
“The reality is we hired 50 people, some of whom were part-time actors I found out later on. But we hired 50 people to help coordinate an event that brought in thousands of people,” Schwartz said of the event.
You can read the full oral history report on Donald Trump here.
Featured image via screen capture
