Brad Parscale, President Donald Trump‘s former re-election campaign manager, was hospitalized Sunday afternoon after his wife said he was armed and threatened suicide. Police took Parscale from his Fort Lauderdale, Florida home following a standoff. He is now being held at Broward Health Medical Center under the Baker Act, which allows police to involuntarily institutionalize.
Parscale’s wife called police to their home in the affluent Seven Isles community. After making contact with Parscale, officers “developed a rapport” and negotiated with him to leave the house, police said in a statement to the Sun-Sentinel. The entire incident was brief, Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Karen Dietrich said. “We went and got him help,” she said. Parscale never threatened police and willingly went to the hospital under the Baker Act, Dietrich said.
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Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis told the Sun-Sentinel he received a text telling him there was a SWAT team at Parscale’s home and the person in the home had weapons. “Politics aside, this fellow obviously suffers from emotional distress,” Trantalis said. “I’m glad he didn’t do any harm to himself or others I commend our SWAT team for being able to negotiate a peaceful ending to this.”
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said the campaign still supports him and suggested Trump’s critics had something to do with Sunday’s events, without evidence. “Brad Parscale is a member of our family and we all love him,” Murtaugh said. “We are ready to support him and his family in any way possible. The disgusting, personal attacks from Democrats and disgruntled RINOs have gone too far, and they should be ashamed of themselves for what they’ve done to this man and his family.” Parscale himself has not commented.
Parscale, 44, began working with the Trump Organization in 2011 and was hired to build Trump’s campaign website in 2015. Months before the 2016 election, he was named the campaign’s digital media director. In February 2018, Trump named Parscale his re-election campaign manager. In July, Trump announced Bill Stepien would replace Parscale following missteps, including organizing the June 20 Tulsa, Oklahoma rally that was poorly attended. Parscale’s campaign spending also came under scrutiny, but Trump said he would remain an advisor to the campaign.
Since he was replaced, Parscale kept a low profile. Earlier this month, he joined a Texas Trump campaign bus tour and has been tweeting defiant messages and defending his record as campaign manager, reports ABC News. Last month, he called himself “employee number 1 in 2015 for the exploration committee” and said his team “built the biggest infrastructure in history.”
