Trump holds press conference, his campaign adds senior advisers

By Nathan Layne and Gram Slattery

BEDMINSTER, New Jersey (Reuters) -Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump sought to tie his Democratic rival Kamala Harris to the Biden administration's economic record on Thursday during a rambling press conference at his New Jersey golf club, his latest effort to blunt her momentum.

Flanked by tables stacked with grocery items, Trump blamed Harris, the U.S. vice president, for the inflation that has caused the price of everyday goods to rise during President Joe Biden's term in office.

"Harris has just declared that tackling inflation will be a day one priority for her," he said. "But day one for Kamala was 3-1/2 years ago. Where has she been?"

Inflation peaked in 2022 but has slowed significantly since then, though grocery prices remain higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump also leveled many of the same false claims he typically unleashes at his campaign rallies, including asserting that migrants crossing the southern U.S. border are mostly dangerous criminals.

The event was aimed at drawing a contrast with Harris, who has rarely answered questions from reporters since replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in late July. More than 40 minutes into the press conference, however, Trump had yet to take a question.

Harris has said she plans to do her first formal press interview by the end of the month.

Trump held a similar press event at his Florida resort last week, where he spoke for more than an hour, bashing Harris over immigration and the economy and falsely claiming that his campaign crowds have been much larger than hers.

Some allies, donors and advisers have expressed concern at Trump's attacks on Harris' persona and crowd size and suggested he instead focus on what they argue are the failed policies Harris has promoted while in office.

Harris' entry into the race has galvanized Democrats, and polls show she has erased the lead Trump had enjoyed over Biden.

The Harris campaign sent out a mock "media advisory" ahead of Trump's press conference on Thursday with the headline, "Donald Trump to Ramble Incoherently and Spread Dangerous Lies in Public, but at Different Home," a reference to his Bedminster estate.

Harris is scheduled to deliver a speech on economic policy on Friday in North Carolina.

TRUMP ALLIES RETURN TO CAMPAIGN

Earlier on Thursday, the Trump campaign announced five hires, including Corey Lewandowski, who served as Trump's first campaign manager during his successful 2016 campaign. Lewandowski voiced his excitement, posting on X: "Let Trump, Be Trump!"

A campaign official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal personnel matters, said the campaign needed more "soldiers" in the race's closing months and that the hires were not indicative of any broader shakeup.

Other than Lewandowski, the hires will largely work in communications and rapid response, according to another person familiar with campaign operations. The person added the campaign had been severely understaffed in that area.

"Corey Lewandowski, Taylor Budowich, Alex Pfeiffer, Alex Bruesewitz, and Tim Murtaugh are all veterans of prior Trump campaigns and their unmatched experience will help President Trump prosecute the case against Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the most radical ticket in American history," Trump co-campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.

Budowich was most recently the executive director of MAGA Inc, the main outside super PAC supporting Trump's bid, while Pfeiffer served as communications director there. It is common for staff to move between campaigns and their affiliated super PACs, as it can allow each organization to have greater visibility into the other operations. Legally, campaigns and super PACs have limits on how much they can coordinate.

Bruesewitz is a pro-Trump political consultant known for his social media savvy. Murtaugh was communications director of Trump's unsuccessful 2020 bid.

Lewandowski was forced out of Trump's 2016 bid in the months before the election, though Trump later said he regretted it. Lewandowski was later forced out of a pro-Trump super PAC in 2021 after a donor's wife accused him of unwanted sexual advances.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington and Nathan Layne in Bedminster, New Jersey; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Howard Goller and Daniel Wallis)