President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign team has reportedly severed ties with some of its pollsters after leaks of some dismal internal polling data, which showed him trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in several key states.
Trump had called the polling numbers taken back in March “fake polls” after they were reported by the press last week and insisted that he is winning “very big” in several key states.
The pollsters’ removal was reported by The New York Times and NBC News on Sunday, with the outlets citing a presidential adviser and someone close to the campaign, respectively.
The decision to cut ties with three of its five pollsters is meant to prevent further disclosures of survey data, the Times reported.
According to the Times, Trump had instructed his aides to deny that there was any internal polling that showed him trailing Biden after news broke about its existence. They were also told to say that they had contrasting data that showed Trump doing well.
“We are winning in every single state that we’ve polled. We’re winning in Texas very big. We’re winning in Ohio very big. We’re winning in Florida very big,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday.
He also tweeted out that his numbers are “the best numbers WE have ever had.”
This denial came despite public polls that showed Trump trailing Biden, including a recent Fox News poll that put him behind both Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).
A spokesperson for Trump’s reelection campaign declined to comment when reached by HuffPost on Sunday.