The Latest: Lewandowski: “Nice conversation with Mr. Trump”

WASHINGTON – The Latest on Campaign 2016. All times EDT:

2:35 p.m.

Corey Lewandowski, freshly fired from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, is throwing shade at one of the billionaire’s key advisers.

Michael Caputo, a veteran New York Republican operative who has been advising the campaign, on Monday tweeted a photo from the “Wizard of Oz” showing the Wicked Witch of the East’s feet sticking out from under a house. “Ding dong the witch is dead!” Caputo tweeted after Lewandowski’s firing.

Lewandowski says Caputo is, “not a senior adviser,” and that “I really don’t know what he does for the campaign.”

Caputo is focused on shifting the campaign to the convention, where Trump is poised to be formally nominated next month in Cleveland.

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2:13 p.m.

Corey Lewandowski says he had, “a nice conversation with Mr. Trump” while the presumptive GOP presidential candidate was firing him.

Trump’s campaign manager until Monday morning said he told Trump it had been “a privilege” to work for the campaign.

Lewandowski said he plans to go to the Republican National Convention as the chairman of the New Hampshire delegation.

In the interview on CNN, Lewandowski relentlessly painted his firing as not the product of anything unpleasant. He said his relationships with Trump, chief adviser Paul Manafort, the candidate’s daughter, Ivanka, were good.

People close to Trump, including adult children Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr., had long-simmering concerns about Lewandowski, who had limited national experience before becoming Trump’s campaign chief. Some of Trump’s children were among those urging the billionaire businessman to change tactics for the general election.

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2:04 p.m.

Former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says he has no regrets about his tumultuous year managing Donald Trump’s campaign.

In an interview with CNN, Lewandowski said the infighting and turmoil that has marked the campaign stemmed in part from his demands for “perfection.”

He says, “That’s what Mr. Trump deserves,” and that if unnamed people weren’t working as hard as Trump, that upset Lewandowski.

He says, “I’m a very straight shooter, much to my detriment,” on many occasions.

Asked his biggest regret of the campaign, he replied, None, professionally.”

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1:56 p.m.

Donald Trump’s former campaign manager says he doesn’t know why he was fired.

But Corey Lewandowski, who’s been with the campaign since its beginning and was dismissed Monday, said he remains a supporter of the brash billionaire.

He tells CNN “I don’t know the answer to that,” when asked if he knows why he was fired.

Lewandowski also says his relationships with Trump’s top adviser, Paul Manafort, and the candidate’s daughter, Ivanka are good.

Lewandowski was fired Monday after a tumultuous period for the campaign, marked by infighting and rumours. Spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in a statement earlier in the day that she wishes Lewandowski the best.

He is the chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party’s delegation to the GOP national convention.

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11:57 a.m.

Hillary Clinton and a super political action committee backing her have added several million dollars in recent days to their summer advertising plans, which now amount to nearly $48 million through the week of July 19.

Clinton’s Democratic presidential campaign and the super PAC, Priorities USA, are targeting television viewers in battleground states such as Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Colorado and Nevada, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media’s CMAG.

Meanwhile, Trump has no campaign ads booked in the coming weeks. A super PAC organized by his friend, Los Angeles real estate investor Tom Barrack, is running about $1.2 million worth of ads that attack Clinton as the “same old” type of politician. That group, Rebuilding America Now, is airing its commercials on national cable channels.

Unlike candidates, super PACs can accept unlimited amounts from donors, although those groups are not allowed to co-ordinate their ad strategy with the campaign.

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11:13 a.m.

New Hampshire Republican Party officials say Corey Lewandowski remains chairman of the state’s convention delegates, despite his departure from Donald Trump’s campaign Monday.

A spokeswoman for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said in a statement that Lewandowski was no longer with the campaign.

That raised questions about whether Lewandowski would continue in his role leading New Hampshire’s 23 delegates to the convention in Cleveland. Of those, 11 are Trump delegates, all chosen by him.

Lewandowski was elected chair by his fellow delegates in May, a position he will continue to hold unless he resigns. A state party spokesman says Monday, “at this point the delegation remains unchanged.”

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10:08 a.m.

Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is leaving the campaign, following a tumultuous stretch marked by missteps and infighting.

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks says “Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign.” She says the campaign is grateful for his “hard work and dedication” and wishes him the best.

Lewandowski has been by Trump’s side since the beginning of his unlikely rise to presumptive GOP nominee.

The move comes as Trump faces continued deep resistance from many quarters of his party concerned by his contentious statements.