Trump taps former campaign aides for spots on scholarship commission
President Donald Trump on Thursday named a pair of top staffers from his 2016 campaign to spots on a Department of Education panel tasked with giving special recognitions to high school seniors.
The White House said in a statement that Trump had “announced his intent to appoint” Corey Lewandowski, his former campaign manager, and David Bossie, his former deputy campaign manager, to serve on the Commission on Presidential Scholars.
The commission is responsible for annually choosing up to 161 Presidential Scholars from that year’s senior class who “demonstrate exceptional accomplishments in academics, the arts, career and technical education and an outstanding commitment to public service,” according to the Department of Education. The students are presented with medallions during a White House ceremony in June honoring their achievements.
The commission is made up of a “group of eminent private citizens appointed by the President,” according to the Department of Education, and its members “are selected from across the country, representing the fields of education, medicine, law, social services, business, and other professions.”
Lewandowski is currently serving as a senior adviser to Trump’s reelection campaign, and floated a run for Senate in New Hampshire last year. Bossie is the president of the conservative political group Citizens United and a Republican National Committee member from Maryland.
The two advisers reentered the president’s orbit during a visit to the White House last month, when they warned Trump that his 2020 effort was faltering in swing states critical to securing him a second term. Days later, Trump summoned his campaign’s political directors in Arizona and Florida to the White House to brief him on his organization in the battlegrounds.
