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- Trump exploded at then-campaign manager Brad Parscale over his earnings and lavish spending, per a new book.
- News reports and a Lincoln Project ad showed off Parscale's $2.4 million mansion and luxury cars.
- "I just hate these f—ing stories" Trump lamented after others stepped in to defend Parscale.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Former President Donald Trump flew into a rage at his then-campaign manager Brad Parscale after news articles and a Lincoln Project ad highlighted the amount of money Parscale was earning from working on his campaign, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender's latest book, "Frankly We Did Win This Election."
Two news reports from the Daily Mail and the Huffington Post published in early 2020 detailed how Parscale had turned his financial fortunes around. He'd gone from business struggles to buying up property and expensive cars after working first as Trump's digital guru in 2016 and then his campaign manager in 2020.
The Huffington Post reported that Parscale's companies had brought in $38.9 million between January 2017 and March 2020 in disbursements from Trump's campaign and other committees associated with Trump's reelection effort.
The Lincoln Project, a PAC made up of former Republican consultants who opposed Trump, jumped on the stories to produce a 45-second spot titled "GOP Cribs" featuring Parscale's $2.4 million Fort Lauderdale waterfront property, photos of which were published by the Daily Mail. The clip also included footage of Parscale's Florida condos, and his and his wife's collection of luxury cars, including a BMW X6, a Range Rover, and a Ferrari.
The ad, tailored to troll an audience of one, zeroed in on the campaign manager instead of the candidate, heavily implying that Parscale was making a fool out of Trump and getting rich on his dime.
And, according to the book, the ad had its intended effect. Bender wrote that Trump, wildly waving around a printout of one of the articles on how much money Parscale's company had taken in, went on the war path in Trump Tower.
When he finally located his campaign manager, Trump "unleashed a stream of insults, accusations, and expletives that seemed to defy basic laws of human biology that state every man must at some point pause to take a breath," Bender wrote. He also declared: "that's my money!" and "what the f---?"
The brouhaha led deputy campaign manager David Bossie to intervene and contain the outburst in a private office.
At that point, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway also got involved, where she and Bossie tried to diffuse the situation by explaining that Parscale wasn't just running away with all the cash, but that his company was using the bulk of it to pay for advertising and marketing services.
Trump then lamented: "I just hate these f---ing stories."
Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner, according to Bender's recounting, also stepped in to defend Parscale from accusations that was he was making off with the Trump campaign's hard-earned money.
"Brad can make a million f---ing dollars a month with his marketing skills and by the way, I'd be the first person to hire him," Kushner told his father-in-law, according to the book. "You're getting him for $30,000 a month. So you need to just calm down."