Parscale, who has known Jenner for a few years, agreed to help out as a “friend” and is not a paid consultant, according to the source. He will help her find people for important campaign positions if she continues.
First the New York Times reported news from Parscale advising Jenner, an American television personality and retired Olympian.
California’s Gavin Newsom is currently facing a nascent recall that began last year fueled by anger over the restrictions he had put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus in California. The recall gained momentum as prominent state republicans threw their weight into the fight for both the organization and fundraising.
Axios reported Tuesday that Jenner spoke to political advisers when considering a run for the governor’s seat, citing three sources with direct knowledge of her deliberations.
Almost six years ago, the famous American Olympian first spoke publicly about being transgender in an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, in which she also spoke about being a Republican. Jenner voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, telling E! in a 2016 interview that Trump “would be very good for women’s issues.”
However, Jenner began to criticize the former president after his administration announced policies that would roll back some protections for the transgender community. In 2018, about a year after Jenner visited the White House to meet with government officials, the White House announced a ban on most transgender people serving in the military, following Trump’s tweet on the topic.
“He’s not doing very well, but it’s not over yet,” Jenner told Variety at the time. But later that year, Jenner said she made a “mistake” in thinking she could work with Trump to benefit the LGBTQ community and that she was no longer a supporter.
Parscale was hailed by Trump and his allies as a digital guru who helped secure Trump’s first election effort. He worked for the Trump family years before Trump launched a presidential bid and rose to a role as leader of the campaign’s data analytics team in June 2016. Until he embarked on the Trump campaign that began in 2015, the digital media expert never worked in politics.
After Trump won the presidency in 2016, Parscale partnered with America First Policies, a pro-Trump political organization, and became campaign manager in February 2018.
Parscale was demoted last summer after a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and quit his role as senior adviser to the campaign in September, two sources close to the campaign were confirmed to CNN at the time. Three days earlier, he had been detained by police and hospitalized for suicide threats he had made at home while holding a gun.
CNN’s Maegan Vazquez, Veronica Stracqualursi, Kara Fox, Kaitlan Collins, Hollie Silverman, Jeremy Diamond and Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.
