Donald Trump’s controversial 2016 presidential campaign launch, in which he flaunted his perceived power and money as he rode the golden Trump Tower escalator down with his wife Melania, surrounded by adoring admirers, set the tone for the rest of his tenure in office.

We all understood at that moment that if he won, he would destroy our country and our lives in every way possible. And, lo and behold, he did just that.

Trump’s devoted supporters, according to fresh information from one of the ex-former president’s advisers, may have been as phony as his presidential knowledge throughout the last four years.

After Trump’s senior 2016 aide recently revealed to Business Insider that people were paid to turn up for the former real estate “mogul’s” big 2016 announcement — while previously denying the charges of hired actors to Insider — a fresh revelation from Business Insider is making ripples in the media.

Sarah Isgur, the deputy campaign manager for 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, told Insider as part of an oral history project chronicling one of the most unconventional and unprecedented campaigns in Republican history, “I remember thinking, ‘Man, I’m surprised he couldn’t even get people there. That seems insane.’”

The Hollywood Reporter reported at the time of Trump’s historic escalator announcement that the Trump campaign had offered people $50 to attend the event.

Amanda Carpenter, then the communications director for Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 campaign, expressed a similar sentiment to Insider, saying, “It seemed strange. I was watching the coverage of ‘Oh, did they pay people to show up? Who were these people?’” says the narrator.

Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s then-campaign manager, told Business Insider at the time that the allegations of paid actors were “unequivocally” denied.

However, it appears that Lewandowski is now singing a different tune.

The charges of paid actors, according to the former Trump campaign manager, “That’s a Michael Cohen special. Michael Cohen decided that he was going to go hire one of his buddies and pay his buddy without getting any campaign approval. You know, $50 for every person to come in, to stand in Trump Tower.”

Cohen, on the other hand, does not concur with that evaluation. Donald’s former personal attorney and “fixer,” speaking with Insider for the Trump oral history project, alleges the now-ex-president recruited David Schwartz, a partner at the public-relations firm Gotham Government Relations & Communication, to “professionally” plan the event.

“Any allegation of payments to actors is an absolute lie that was promoted by Corey Lewandowski,” Cohen claims.

Insider confirmed to Schwartz that he had been hired to put the whole thing together.