Trump Campaign No Longer Paying CNN's Corey Lewandowski $20,000 Monthly Severance

Former Donald Trump campaign manager and current CNN contributor Corey Lewandowski is no longer receiving a monthly severance payment after the Republican presidential nominee's campaign paid off the remainder of the contract in a lump sum.

Lewandowski, who managed the Trump campaign until he was fired in June, was being paid $20,000 a month while also collecting a paycheck from CNN to ostensibly offer inside commentary on the Trump campaign — an obvious conflict of interest to most journalists and many viewers.

On Thursday morning, CNN reported on-air that the monthly payments had ended.

"In previous appearances we have told you that Corey was still receiving severance from the Trump campaign," CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota said as she introduced Lewandowski for a segment. "That is no longer the case we are told. Are you done with those payments?"

"Amazing, everything comes to an end," Lewandowski said, as he poked fun that "40 days to go in the election and now this is breaking news of the day."

"I didn't think those [payments] would run out," Camerota said.

A source at CNN told Politico that the decision to pay the remainder of Lewandowski's severance came from the Trump campaign because the monthly payments had become a "distraction."

Last week, reports that ultimately turned out to be false, said Lewandowski had been suspended from CNN after Trump's most recent FEC filing said Lewandowski had been paid for "strategy consulting," but the campaign swiftly sought to tamp down the story.

"The campaign will continue to honor its contract with Mr. Lewandowski, which stipulates he will be paid through the end of the year," Trump press secretary Hope Hicks told The Washington Post Wednesday. "These payments are in no way compensation for services rendered."

Lewandowski was fired from the Trump campaign in June as Trump's closest advisers — his children — sought to professionalize the camp's operations and ease tensions attributed to Lewandowski.

In July, Lewandowski was introduced by CNN anchors, who noted that he was "still receiving severance from the Trump campaign."

Critics, including some at CNN, have panned the move for CNN to hire Lewandowski, saying he cannot perform his duties in accordance with journalistic practices after signing a nondisclosure agreement that prevents him from talking about Trump and his campaign in any light that is not positive.

For his part, Lewandowski promised during his first appearance on CNN, "I will tell it like it is."

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