Donald Trump's campaign busted trying to downplay associate's controversial Facebook posts
BuzzFeed reported Wednesday that Aaron Borders, who identified himself as Trump's Arizona state director, has repeatedly shared posts that, among other things, compared President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and spread derogatory comments about Islam.
The Trump campaign "originally falsely denied" Borders was connected to the campaign, wrote BuzzFeed reporters Andrew Kaczynski and Christopher Massie.
However, Borders reportedly recorded conversations that contradicted that claim. One audio recording featured campaign manager Corey Lewandowski telling Borders "of the campaign's intent to hire him." On another recording, Lewandowski said he would downplay Borders' connection to the campaign in light of his Facebook controversy.
"We'll just tell BuzzFeed that there's no formal relationship, that you're an overzealous volunteer and that you're not part of the campaign in any way shape or form, regardless of what the story says," Lewandowski was quoted as saying.
In a third apparent conversation between Lewandowski and Borders, the campaign manager is quoted threatening to sue the operative for allegedly breaking the law by recording him in a state that requires both sides in a phone conversation to consent to it.
"You know in New Hampshire," Lewandowski was quoted saying to Borders, "you need two-party consent to record a phone conversation. You record my phone conversation, I'm going to sue your f-ing ass to next year, you know that, right?"
On Sunday, the Trump campaign severed ties with another associate, adviser Sam Nunberg, after Business Insider uncovered his own controversial Facebook posts.
Nunberg referred to the Rev. Al Sharpton's daughter as ""N---!," called New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) a "fat slob," and more. Like the case with Borders, the Trump team responded by downplaying Nunberg's role in the campaign.
"Sam Nunberg is just a short-term consultant with the campaign along with many others. If he did make these statements he will be terminated immediately," a spokesperson told Business Insider at the time. "Mr. Trump would never condone such statements from anybody in his campaign ... even if that person had a low-level campaign position."
The Daily Beast further reported on Monday that a third person who has described himself as a Trump adviser, Brad Nagel, also has a history of sharing Facebook posts "disparaging Muslims and Mexicans, as well as likening Obama to Hitler."