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 Corey Lewandowski resigns from CNN after visit to Trump Tower 
 
 CLOSE Skip in Skip x Embed x Share Corey Lewandowski announced his resignation from CNN after being seen visiting Trump Tower. Video provided by Newsy Newslook 
 
 Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski resigned from his role as a political commentator on CNN Friday, effectively immediately, after being seen arriving at Trump Tower earlier in the day. 
 
 Despite being fired from the Trump campaign in June, Lewandowski has stayed in close contact with his former co-workers and there has been a lot of speculation about a Lewandowski role in the Trump White House. 
 
 CNN's decision to hire Lewandowski three days after he left the Trump campaign was highly controversial and the move was condemned by several media critics. USA TODAY columnist Rem Reider felt Lewandoski's hire was one of the worst examples of "the revolving door between politics and the media" because unlike many talking heads, the combative Lewandoski had minimal political experience. 
 
 "His background is largely as a Trump guy," Reider wrote. "And not so much as a strategist — Trump is his own strategist — or deep thinker, but as a right-hand man, a body man and an enforcer." 
 
 "I think it's really important to have voices on CNN who are supportive of the Republican nominee," CNN President Jeff Zucker said, defending his decision to hire Lewandowski to Variety. "It's hard to find a lot of those. Our competitors tried to hire him too." 
 
 Lewandowski drew national media attention in March when he was charged with simple assault after reporter Michelle Fields accused him of forcefully grabbing her during a Florida Trump rally. Authorities declined to prosecute Lewandowski, citing a lack of evidence. 
 
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 Corey Lewandowski, the controversial Donald Trump campaign manager turned CNN commentator, resigned from CNN on Friday afternoon. 
 
 The resignation is effective immediately. A CNN spokeswoman confirmed that Lewandowski is no longer serving as a contributor to the network. 
 
 Lewandowski has stayed in close touch with Trump and some top Trump aides since being fired from the campaign in June. This week there has been media discussion about Lewandowski possibly taking a role in the Trump administration. 
 
 Lewandowski did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
 
 Earlier on Friday, Lewandowski was seen arriving at Trump Tower, where the president-elect is holding transition meetings. 
 
 Lewandowski was one of the most controversial additions to CNN in many years. He was hired just three days after being ousted from the campaign. He became a familiar face during CNN's election coverage, frequently sparring with liberal commentators like Van Jones and Christine Quinn. 
 
 Lewandowski brought unique first-hand experience running a historic presidential campaign. But some viewers -- and even some CNN staffers -- felt Lewandowski never should have been hired at all. 
 
 Lewandowski was bound by a non-disclosure agreement that impeded his ability to criticize Trump publicly. He also received severance payments from the campaign. 
 
 CNN President Jeff Zucker stood by the decision to hire Lewandowski, pointing out that it was critical to have ideological diversity on the airwaves. 
 
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 "I think it's really important to have voices on CNN who are supportive of the Republican nominee," Zucker told Variety in August. "It's hard to find a lot of those. Our competitors tried to hire him too." 
 
 On Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, as Trump stunned the country by defeating Hillary Clinton, Lewandowski was in CNN's Washington, D.C. studio to provide perspective. 
 
 "I don't think in January of 2015, when I signed on to become Donald Trump's campaign manager to lay the foundation, anybody thought at that time Donald Trump was going to be elected President of the United States tonight," he said. 
 
 With pride in his voice, he said, "That is what is going to happen. It's unequivocal, the numbers are there. He is going to be the President of the United States."
– Corey Lewandowski's days as a TV talking head are over for now: CNN says the former Donald Trump campaign manager has resigned effective immediately. Lewandowski, who allegedly assaulted a Breitbart reporter earlier this year and was fired by the Trump campaign in June, was seen leaving Trump Tower hours before the resignation and there has been plenty of speculation that he might play a role in Trump's administration, USA Today reports. At CNN, where he continued to receive payments from the Trump campaign for months, Lewandowski was a controversial hire. He had signed a non-disclosure agreement that limited how much he could say about the campaign, but still provided plenty of pro-Trump commentary. "I don't think in January of 2015, when I signed on to become Donald Trump's campaign manager to lay the foundation, anybody thought at that time Donald Trump was going to be elected President of the United States tonight," he said during election night coverage. Fellow contributor Van Jones told him he was "being a horrible person" after they argued about Hillary Clinton's failure to speak that night.