Brad Parscale, a senior adviser to Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, is reportedly leaving his role due to “overwhelming stress” after being detained by police over the weekend during a meltdown at his Florida home.
“I am stepping away from my company and any role in the campaign for the immediate future to focus on my family and get help dealing with the overwhelming stress,” Parscale said in a statement Wednesday to Politico.
Parscale was hospitalized Sunday after police responded to his Florida home where the irate adviser allegedly was threatening suicide. Police at the scene said his wife, Candice, told them he physically abused her — an accusation she now denies, according to the outlet.
“The statements I made on Sunday have been misconstrued, let it be clear my husband was not violent towards me that day or any day prior,” she said.
Police bodycam video shows officers tackling the shirtless and apparently drunk Parscale during his arrest. The footage also shows Candice after she fled the couple’s $2.4 million Fort Lauderdale home, telling police her husband had become unstable and she ran outside when he cocked a gun.
Parscale was praised for his work as the digital director on Trump’s 2016 campaign, with some crediting the former Trump Organization employee for having a major hand in the president’s election. After being promoted to campaign director, he was demoted from the role this July as Trump’s poll numbers lagged.
“We hope only for the best for Brad and his family,” Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign spokesman, told Politico.