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Remember That Time Corey Lewandowski Brought a Gun to Capitol Hill

Heard on the Hill had the story on Corey Lewandowski in 1999

Roll Call archives 1999.
Roll Call archives 1999.

In 1999, Corey Lewandowski , a bag of laundry and a handgun caused quite the scene in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill.  

The newly sacked Donald Trump campaign manager then worked for Ohio Republican Bob Ney as his deputy chief of staff. On April 30, 1999, Lewandowski tried to carry a bag of laundry into work with a handgun at the bottom of the bag.  

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Police officers discovered the handgun when it set off the metal detector and charged him with a misdemeanor.  

“The aide explained that he was planning to drive to Ohio after work, and when he threw his laundry into a bag, he forgot that the gun was sitting at the bottom of the bag,” Roll Call’s Ed Henry reported at the time.  

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Ney also got involved. “He was returning to Ohio with his laundry,” he said. “He forgot the gun was in there.”  

The congressman said he was not planning to discipline Lewandowski because the staffer did not intentionally try to bring in the gun.  

“He didn’t try to storm the building,” he said. “Had it been intentional, it would have been a felony.”  

Lewandowski stirred controversy throughout his time with the Trump campaign, most notably for his arrest in Florida following the assault of journalist Michelle Fields.


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