Trump to His Campaign Manager: I'll Sue You

President Trump was in a dark mood last week and even threatened to sue his campaign manager over falling poll numbers, CNN reports. Three insiders tell the network that during a Friday meeting with advisors—including campaign manager Brad Parscale, who was on the phone from Florida—Trump unloaded on Parscale and threatened to see him in court. Parscale, along with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and other advisors, were encouraging Trump to cut back on his combative press briefings or stop taking questions from reporters, officials tell the Washington Post. Trump's suggestion that Americans inject disinfectants to curb the coronavirus sparked a particularly bad spate of news reports.

Trump was angry "because he knows he messed up in those briefings," said a Republican connected to the administration. But CNN admits it's not clear whether Trump's lawsuit threat was serious, and an insider tells the Post it was only a joke. What's more, Parscale flew back to the White House on Wednesday, strategized with Trump, and got his OK for a series of campaign ads criticizing Joe Biden over his positions on China. Among other details from the roiling week, Trump is said to have rejected polling data that showed him slipping behind Biden in key swing states: "I'm not losing to Joe Biden," the president said. (Parscale played a vital role in Trump's victory.)