Trump Campaign Dumps Corey Stewart After RNC Protest 'Stunt'

WOODBRIDGE, VA — Donald Trump's Virginia campaign is ending its relationship with state chair Corey Stewart following a Monday afternoon protest event at the RNC headquarters.

Stewart was promoting his busy day just minutes before news broke that the campaign would replace him over the event. "Tons of interviews today on behalf of Mr. Trump," Stewart wrote on Facebook on Monday afternoon. "Then, I went to start a rebellion against GOP establishment pukes who betrayed Trump."

It wasn't long after that post that news broke of his exit from the campaign.

"He is being replaced, effective immediately," said Trump Deputy Campaign Manager David Bossie in a campaign statement. "Corey made this decision when he staged a stunt in front of the RNC without the knowledge or approval of the Trump campaign."

Stewart is the chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors. He has also been campaigning for the GOP 2017 gubernatorial nomination.

Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway noted the party and the presidential campaign have a "tremendous working relationship."

"Chairman Reince Priebus has been an engaged and incredibly supportive ally to Mr. Trump throughout the campaign," she said in the campaign statement. "The chairman and his top executives … have stood shoulder to shoulder with us as we have enhanced our filed team, data operation, fundraising and ground game efforts of the past couple of months."

Stewart's event in D.C. followed reports that the RNC was pulling funding in support of the Republican presidential candidate's campaign.

"This is true, folks," Stewart wrote on his Facebook page, sharing a link of one report that the RNC was freezing spending on Trump. "It is a total betrayal by the RNC establishment."

The move was allegedly due to fallout from a controversial 2005 video released Friday that catches audio of Trump bragging about physically forcing himself on women in graphic, vulgar language.

A growing list of elected Republicans have registered their shock at Trump's comments, with many revoking their endorsement of the candidate.

More: 'Step Aside' Trump: Comstock's Early Exit Followed by More Exhausted Republicans

"I'm From the Campaign. Shut It Down"

On Facebook, Fox5's Ronica Cleary shared a video from the protest event as a woman appeared and told the crowd of to disperse.

"I'm from the campaign," she said, later identifying herself as a local field director, Julia Haller. She swung her arms. "Shut it down."

Haller approached the small crowd that was chanting "make America safe again" in front of several TV cameras and told the group they should be knocking on doors for the campaign and making calls for the campaign.

"This is not the way to help Mr. Trump," she said. "Go home!"

She approached Stewart just before he began to speak to the crowd, telling the people that his position with the campaign had just been threatened. "Folks, this is about Mr. Trump, but this is really about all of us," he told the crowd. "We took back control of the Republican Party and we're not going to let it go."

Photo by Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons