Daily Beast: “Last week, Donald Trump announced the exile of his confidant and former top campaign aide Corey Lewandowski, with advisers banishing him from leading a major pro-Trump super PAC, following sexual misconduct allegations against the loyalist from a big GOP donor. But Lewandowski, initially, wouldn’t go, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. What followed, the sources described, was what amounted to stages of denial and bargaining before ultimately being abandoned by the world he claimed to dominate. Lewandowski, at first privately and then publicly through a lawyer, denied the details of the alleged incident. When that didn’t work, he resisted leaving. Lewandowski then subsequently settled on pitching Trumpworld a not-so-modest proposal: in exchange for his resignation, the super PAC and the pro-Trump team would pay him a large sum of money to go away. Two of the knowledgeable sources said the former 2016 Trump campaign manager’s demand was for hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“But even though that Lewandowski super PAC – called Make America Great Again Action – currently sits on $6.58 million, mostly from Trump megadonors, he didn’t have the leverage he seemed to think he had. His fellow Trump lieutenants gave him a hard no. One person who was keen on Lewandowski walking away empty-handed was none other than his ex-boss and pal: former President Trump. The twice-impeached ex-president didn’t want to see Lewandowski slinking away with any of that money – which Trump views as his money, despite the patina of distance that is legally required between candidates and super PACs. Shortly after Lewandowski made his request, Trump was briefed, according to two of the sources with knowledge of the matter, and scoffed at the idea of paying Lewandowski a large sum of cash to be ousted. Instead of grappling with the notoriously belligerent operative, however, his MAGA Action colleagues simply abandoned him.”