Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has shaken up his campaign once again with the election only 82 days away.
Fox News learned early Wednesday that pollster Kellyanne Conway was promoted to campaign manager and Stephen Bannon, the co-founder of Breitbart News, was named campaign chief executive.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the campaign’s overhaul.
Trump told the Associated Press that Conway and Bannon were “big people” who would help him defeat Hillary Clinton come November.
"I've known both of them for a long time. They're terrific people, they're winners, they're champs, and we need to win it," he said.
Conway told Fox News that “everyone else” on the campaign will remain in place.
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Trump echoed Conway, telling the Associated Press that Paul Manfort, who took over following the departure of Corey Lewandowski in June, will maintain his current title.
A senior Trump campaign source told Fox News that Rick Gates’ title has been elevated to deputy campaign manager.
The recent development in the Trump campaign comes after several polls show that he losing to Clinton in several key background states. He has also resisted repeated calls from fellow Republicans to change his approach on the campaign trail that has powered his surge to the top of the GOP field in the primary season.
"You know, I am who I am," he told a local Wisconsin television station Tuesday. "It's me. I don't want to change. Everyone talks about, 'Oh, well you're going to pivot, you're going to.' I don't want to pivot. I mean, you have to be you. If you start pivoting, you're not being honest with people."
The Associated Press reported that the moves were discussed at a lengthy senior staff meeting at Trump Tower Tuesday while the billionaire mogul was on the road. Additional senior hires are expected to come in the next few days.
Trump, whose campaign is built on his persona as a winner, said several time that the campaign is "doing well," and said his speech hours earlier in Wisconsin Tuesday was well-received.
"We're going to be doing something very dramatic," Trump added.
In the Wisconsin outing, Trump accused Clinton of "bigotry" and being "against the police," claiming that she and other Democrats have "betrayed the African American community" and pandered for votes.
"We reject the bigotry of Hillary Clinton, which panders to and talks down to communities of color and sees them only as votes — that's all they care about," the GOP nominee said in remarks delivered not far from Milwaukee — the latest city to be rocked by violence in the wake of a police shooting.
Trump has been lagging in the polls since he was crowned the GOP standard-bearer in Cleveland last month. He charged that Clinton has been on the side of the rioters in Milwaukee, declaring: "Our opponent Hillary would rather protect the offender than the victim."
"The riots and destruction that have taken place in Milwaukee is an assault on the right of all citizens to live in security and to live in peace," he said.
Clinton campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri responded with a statement early Wednesday accusing Trump of being the bigot instead.
"With each passing Trump attack, it becomes clearer that his strategy is just to say about Hillary Clinton what's true of himself. When people started saying he was temperamentally unfit, he called Hillary the same. When his ties to the Kremlin came under scrutiny, he absurdly claimed that Hillary was the one who was too close to Putin. Now he's accusing her of bigoted remarks -- We think the American people will know which candidate is guilty of the charge," she said.
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