The Republican National Committee has hired Rick Wiley, an experienced operative with a short-lived stint on Donald Trump’s campaign this year.
“Rick has been hired as a consultant by the RNC in consultation and agreement with the Trump campaign,” RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer said in a statement.
The Washington Post first reported Wiley’s hiring, and that Trump’s campaign had given the RNC its blessing to hire Wiley.
Wiley started working as Trump’s national political director in April but was dismissed last month amid infighting among top campaign officials for the presumptive Republican nominee.
He will work for the RNC as a consultant overseeing the party’s national field operation — an especially important task, with Trump’s campaign operation much smaller than that of a typical presidential nominee.
Wiley was the RNC’s national political director during Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign and managed Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign in the 2016 cycle, before Walker dropped out of the race last year.
The RNC on Wednesday made another move toward strengthening ties with the Trump campaign. Ed Brookover, a frequent Trump surrogate in the media, will serve as the liaison between the campaign and the committee. RNC Chief of Staff Katie Walsh and Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort made the announcement about Brookover, a veteran GOP operative.
Earlier in the primary season Brookover served as campaign manager to Ben Carson, one of Trump’s vanquished GOP rivals.