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Donald Trump's campaign staffers face losing their jobs if they speak to the media before the election in November, according to a leaked email from his co-campaign managers.
In the email, seen by NCB News, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles reportedly wrote that the Republican campaign team has “done a great job in preventing leaks”, because “everyone knows what the policy is and what we expect from everyone”.
“Information is power,” they added, “and the press doesn’t give a damn if you lose your job because you spoke out of school.”
They asked staffers: “Please do not deviate from this policy. Success requires buy-in from everyone.”
“If just one of us goes off course, it jeopardizes not only the team, but also President Trump and Republicans up and down the ballot.”
The two senior campaign staffers also noted that they only have “61 days left until victory”, an arguably premature statement, particularly considering Kamala Harris currently has a 3.1 point lead over Trump in polls.
This is not the first time an insider email has been leaked from the campaign. On Monday, The Boston Globe obtained an email in which Tom Mountain, a former Republican party vice-chair in Massachusetts, sent a message to volunteers claiming “the campaign has determined that New Hampshire is no longer a battleground state”.
The Republican ticket is struggling to steady itself after weeks of fallout from several scandals and blunders made by Trump and his vice-presidential pick, JD Vance.
Trump especially has been creating negative headlines for making a campaign event of his visit to the Arlington National Cemetery last week, in addition to rambling speeches peppered with frankly odd claims.
On Wednesday, he repeatedly insisted he and his running mate are not "weird" – a label bestowed upon them by Democrat VP candidate Tim Walz that has proved impossible to shake off – while also slipping into a rambling tangent about hating mosquitoes.
LaCivita in fact was also unable to escape the heated criticism and did not help his campaign’s cause after a cemetery official accused him and another senior campaign member of pushing her aside and verbally abusing her to gain access to a certain part of the cemetery.
And Vance is apparently trying to follow in Mr Trump’s footsteps with a string of blunders that left him social media's number one target.
Some are even ridiculing Trump's choice of VP candidate, saying he is the former president's biggest mistake of this campaign, after he has made numerous failed jokes and poorly judged comments about "childless cat ladies," and women who prioritize their careers over having children.