Corey Lewandowski

Corey R. Lewandowski (born September 18, 1973) is an American political operative, lobbyist, political commentator and author who is politically associated with Donald Trump.

Lewandowski graduated in 1991 from Lowell Catholic High School, a private, not-for-profit, college-preparatory school in Lowell.

In 1994, while an undergraduate student, Lewandowski ran for a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a write-in candidate in the Republican primary.

He received 143 votes, falling short of the 150 votes needed to win the party's nomination for the ballot.

In the November general election, the seat was won by Thomas A. Golden Jr., a Democrat.

Golden received 7,157 votes, while Lewandowski received 7 votes.

In 1995, he graduated from the University of Massachusetts Lowell with a B.A. in political science.

After graduating from college, Lewandowski worked as an aide for Republican Massachusetts Congressman Peter G. Torkildsen from January 1996 to January 1997, while a graduate student at American University.

He received a master's degree in political science from American University in Washington, DC, in 1997.

Also while a student in 1997, Lewandowski interned for Massachusetts State Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos, a Democrat.

From December 1997 to February 2001, Lewandowski worked as an administrative assistant for Ohio Republican Bob Ney, a U.S. Congressman.

In 1999, while working for Ney, Lewandowski brought a loaded handgun in a laundry bag into the Longworth House Office Building.

He was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor.

Lewandowski said it was an accident, that he forgot the gun was in the bag when he put the laundry in it.

The charges eventually were dismissed; Lewandowski then unsuccessfully fought for four years to get the gun back, filing lawsuits in multiple District of Columbia and federal courts.

(Lewandowski cited contributions made by Washington lawyer George Salem to Sununu; Salem, who chaired Arab Americans for Bush-Cheney during the 2000 Bush/Cheney campaign, was the attorney for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which had its assets frozen by the U.S. government in 2001 on suspicion of ties to Hamas.) Lewandowski's comments were interpreted as publicly suggesting that Sununu, who is of Lebanese descent, had divided loyalties in fighting terrorism.

Former New Hampshire Governor Steve Merrill said, "The politics of ethnic slurs and bigotry have no place in any campaign."

Former New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman said, "Bob Smith is a better human being than that, and he ought to tell his people to watch themselves."

President George W. Bush's spokesperson said, "The White House called Senator Smith's office ... Remarks that paint Arab Americans with a broad brush aren't helpful. We need to reassure Arab Americans that this war is about al-Qaida, not Islam. Mr. Salem is a good friend of the president's and an honorable man."

Smith's press secretary said Lewandowski was "merely responding to media inquiries" about Salem's fund raising and that "Senator Smith has repeatedly said this campaign is about records—Congressman Sununu's record and Senator Smith's record. Someone's ethnic background has absolutely nothing to do with this election."

Sununu defeated Smith in the Republican primary, winning 53% of the vote to Smith's 45%.

After leaving Ney's office, Lewandowski worked most of 2001 for the Republican National Committee as the Northeast legislative political director.

Lewandowski was the campaign manager for the 2002 re-election campaign of U.S. Senator Robert C. Smith of New Hampshire.

Smith was challenged in the Republican primary by John E. Sununu.

Speaking about Sununu, Lewandowski said, "The people of New Hampshire want someone in the U.S. Senate with clear, concise views on terrorism. They'll judge a congressman based on the people he associates with, his voting record and his campaign contributions."

Lewandowski told a reporter he would be interested to know whether anyone associated with Hamas had attended a fundraising event for Sununu.

In 2007, before Ney was sentenced on federal corruption charges arising from the Abramoff lobbying scandal, Lewandowski wrote a letter to the presiding judge, saying that Ney was a mentor and "surrogate father" to him and asking for leniency in sentencing.

He was the first campaign manager of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and was fired by Trump during the Republican Primary.

He later became a political commentator for One America News Network (OANN), Fox News and CNN.

Before convincing Trump he could lead his campaign, Lewandowski worked on several campaigns, for a Congressman, worked for the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity and was a lobbyist.

He also held the position of Seasonal Marine Patrol Officer Trainee for approximately 3.5 years and graduated from the New Hampshire part-time Police Officer Academy.

He ran unsuccessfully for office twice, once in Massachusetts and once in New Hampshire.

On December 21, 2016, Lewandowski co-founded Avenue Strategies, a lobbying firm in an office near the White House.

He left the firm in May 2017.

On August 1, 2019, Lewandowski announced that he was "very seriously" considering seeking the Republican nomination to oppose incumbent Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen in the 2020 United States Senate election in New Hampshire.

In January 2020, he ultimately decided not to run, while stating that he "would have won" had he run.

In September 2021 it was reported that he had made sexual advances towards the wife of a major Trump donor, leading to a Trump spokesman saying Lewandowski "will no longer be associated with Trump World."

Lewandowski was raised in Lowell, Massachusetts.

One of his grandfathers was a printer.

He is of Polish and French-Canadian descent.