Trump expands his campaign staff hours before he holds a news conference at his New Jersey golf club

BEDMINSTER, N.J. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump invited reporters to his New Jersey play nine Thursday for his 2nd quality league successful arsenic galore weeks arsenic helium adjusts to a recently energized Democratic summons up of adjacent week's Democratic National Convention.

Hours earlier the quality league was slated to begin, Trump’s run leaders announced they were expanding his staff, bringing a fig of erstwhile aides and extracurricular advisers formally into the fold. Corey Lewandowski, Taylor Budowich, Alex Pfeiffer, Alex Bruesewitz and Tim Murtaugh volition counsel the campaign’s elder leadership.

Lewandowski was Trump's archetypal run manager during his 2016 campaign. Budowich and Pfeiffer are moving implicit from MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump ace PAC. Bruesewitz produces pro-Trump contented for a ample societal media following. And Murtaugh was the communications manager for Trump’s 2020 campaign.

Summer has traditionally been the clip for shakeups successful Trump’s 2 anterior campaigns. This year's alteration comes weeks aft the run itself was transformed by President Joe Biden's determination to extremity his reelection run and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump volition conscionable the property astatine 4:30 p.m. EDT arsenic helium steps up his disapproval of Harris for not holding a quality league oregon sitting down for interviews since Biden made mode for her.

The vice president has hardly engaged with reporters since becoming the Democratic nominee, though she travels with journalists aboard Air Force Two and sometimes answers shouted questions portion boarding oregon leaving the level for run stops.

In 1 little enactment past week, she told reporters she wants “to get an interrogation unneurotic by the extremity of the month.”

Trump connected Wednesday made small effort to enactment connected connection astatine a rally successful North Carolina that his run billed arsenic a large economical address, mixing pledges to slash vigor prices and “unleash economical abundance” with acquainted off-script tangents.

He aired his vexation implicit the Democrats swapping the vice president successful spot of Biden astatine the apical of their statesmanlike ticket. He repeatedly denigrated San Francisco, wherever Harris was erstwhile the territory attorney, arsenic “unlivable” and went aft his rival successful profoundly idiosyncratic terms, questioning her intelligence, saying she has “the laughter of a brainsick person” and musing that Democrats were being “politically correct” successful trying to elevate the archetypal Black pistillate and idiosyncratic of southbound Asian descent to service arsenic vice president.

A caller canvass from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that Americans are much apt to spot Trump implicit Harris erstwhile it comes to handling the system and immigration, issues that helium has enactment astatine the halfway of his lawsuit for returning to the White House.

In his quality league past week, Trump taunted his rival, boasted of his assemblage connected Jan. 6, 2021, and lashed retired astatine questions astir the enthusiasm Harris' run has been generating. He spoke for much than an hr and made a fig of mendacious and misleading claims.

Thursday's quality league volition beryllium livestreamed connected apnews.com.

___

Cooper reported from Phoenix.