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18 Jul, 6 tweets, 2 min read
NEW: The definitive oral history of how Donald Trump took over the GOP, as told to @thisisinsider by Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and 20 more insiders ($) businessinsider.com/how-trump-took…
In interviews with nearly two dozen people — including several 2016 Republican candidates, party officials, and both GOP and Democratic campaign operatives — Insider collected never-before-reported recollections from Trump's hostile takeover of the GOP.
The story that follows covers the Trump Tower escalator ride that started everything; the Trump official behind renting a crowd for the big campaign announcement speech; and Melania Trump's plagiarism of Michelle Obama at the RNC, which was 5 years ago today. Image
These 2016 insiders also described how the Trump team prepared for the first GOP debate in Cleveland by hanging with a member of Aerosmith and how his campaign polled Ivanka Trump as a vice-presidential candidate amid the RNC's last-minute gambit to dump Trump.
The human drama of the 2016 Republican primary campaign has been all but forgotten, replaced by what came after: Trump versus Hillary, Russian hackings, WikiLeaks, and the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape — and the four ensuing wild years that roiled the nation and the world.
But for any of that to happen, Trump must first become the leader of the GOP. Check out our LONG READ oral history of that story w/ a @thisisinsider subscription. businessinsider.com/how-trump-took…

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More from @dsamuelsohn

Darren Samuelsohn Profile picture
19 Jul
NEW: About a month ago, Jason Miller met with Donald Trump at the ex-president's Bedminster, NJ golf club. The goal; to coax his former boss to join the new conservative social media network, GETTR. ($) by ⁦@tomlobianco⁩ ⁦@thisisinsider⁩ businessinsider.com/gettr-trump-ja…
In an exclusive interview, the former senior advisor for Trump's reelection campaign, described to Insider how he's pitching Trump on GETTR.
The two men discussed a possible — undisclosed — pricetag for getting Trump on the platform, the newly-minted CEO of GETTR told Insider. Miller also gave Trump a spin through the social network's app.
Read 6 tweets
Darren Samuelsohn Profile picture
19 Jul
NEW: Another newsy nugget from the @thisisinsider Trump oral history project.

Corey Lewandowski acknowledges Trump 2016 did indeed pay actors to appear at the Trump Tower campaign announcement event.
businessinsider.com/trump-aide-say…
Donald Trump's top 2016 aide previously denied the campaign paid actors to appear at the future president's big campaign launch announcement at Trump Tower, yet that same official recently told Insider people were indeed hired to show up.
The Trump campaign in 2016 fiercely rejected the claims. Corey Lewandowski, then-Trump's campaign manager, told Insider at the time that he "unequivocally" denied the allegations. businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-…
Read 15 tweets
Darren Samuelsohn Profile picture
19 Jul
NEW: Trump's future DOJ spokeswoman said the Republicans he trounced in 2016 reminded her of the people who lost to Hitler - @thisisinsider businessinsider.com/trump-hitler-s…
A campaign aide for former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said she took the systematic evisceration of the GOP field by Donald Trump pretty hard – attempting, at one point, to escape the psychic trauma by "listening to the Hamilton soundtrack just over and over."
"I remember wondering who had run against Hitler in Germany and thinking those people deserve more credit in history. Because you can know what the threat is, and you can give everything you've got and still lose," said then-Fiorina deputy campaign manager Sarah Isgur.
Read 7 tweets
Darren Samuelsohn Profile picture
19 Jul
NEW: Defense lawyers for members of the Jan 6 pro-Trump mob are using an email listserv where they compare notes on a deluge of criminal cases that federal prosecutors have described as "unprecedented." ($) by ⁦@cryanbarber⁩ ⁦@thisisinsider⁩ businessinsider.com/capitol-attack…
The listserv has provided a forum for the diffuse network of lawyers in the federal public defender's office in Washington, DC, along with the many dozens of court-appointed counsel and others who have been privately retained by accused Capitol rioters.
But emails obtained by Insider show that, like with almost any listserv, things can also get tense.
In recent weeks, the listserv — created by the federal public defender's office—  has featured complaints about prosecutors seeking restitution payments to help repair the Capitol.
Read 8 tweets
Darren Samuelsohn Profile picture
18 Jul
NEW: Here's another gem from our big oral history project: When a staffer had to tell Bill Clinton about the infamous Trump-Rubio fight in 2016 over penis size.

Cause yeah, that did really happen. @thisisinsider businessinsider.com/donald-trump-p…
The moment when then-candidate Donald Trump boasted about his manhood during a 2016 Republican primary debate was particularly memorable for a staffer who had to brief former President Bill Clinton on what happened.
The former president had been in a meeting in Louisiana and missed the debate when Trump, responding to an attack from his opponent Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, assured a crowd that neither his hands nor "something else" were small.
Read 6 tweets
Darren Samuelsohn Profile picture
18 Jul
NEW: Trump team's pre-debate prep included a 'party' with Aerosmith. The hard rockers still threatened to sue later. businessinsider.com/donald-trump-2… @thisisinsider
Donald Trump insulted Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry an hour before the first GOP presidential debate in 2015, ruining the unconventional love fest with a skeevy remark about casual sex.
The unexpected meeting ended on a sour note, according to Insider's exhaustive oral history of Trump's takeover of the Republican party, after the self-styled "playboy" glorified groupie culture. businessinsider.com/how-trump-took…
Read 11 tweets

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