SCOOP: Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) has fired Brandon Phillips, his former chief of staff and longtime adviser, who had been a central figure in a House ethics investigation that has since been dropped, a source familiar with the campaign told Sources Say News.
The move is a reversal for Collins, a second-term Republican and the front-runner for his party's Senate nomination, who said as recently as January that he had no intention of cutting ties with Phillips.
It comes as Collins' campaign account faces sharp criticism from fellow Republicans over a crude post about a strategist tied to Vice President JD Vance — a post the campaign deleted and then reposted — three weeks before a June 16 runoff against former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley.
“Earlier today, a campaign advisor sent out a despicable and unauthorized twitter comment using a Team Collins campaign account. The statement was made without my knowledge or approval and in no way represents or reflects my values or the values of this campaign,” Collins said in a statement. “I want to apologize for this offensive tweet. I have made staffing changes to ensure this type of behavior never happens again.”
Phillips did not respond to a request for comment.
The dispute started when the Mike Collins War Room account went after conservative strategist Luke Thompson, who is close to the vice president. Thompson had argued that Collins' slipping poll numbers make him the weaker candidate against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), citing a survey that showed Collins leading Dooley 46–41.
The lead had "cut in half" in 48 hours, Thompson wrote in the post, "Dooley beats Ossoff. Collins can't. Not hard to understand."
The campaign account fired back, misspelling Thompson's name and calling him "Matt Laurer's sloppy seconds chiming in to take an L."
The dispute began when the "Mike Collins War Room" account went after conservative strategist Luke Thompson, who is close to Vice President JD Vance. Thompson had argued that Collins' slipping poll numbers make him the weaker candidate against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) in November, citing a survey that showed Collins leading former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley 46–41.
The lead had "cut in half" in 48 hours, Thompson wrote in the post, "Dooley beats Ossoff. Collins can't. Not hard to understand." The campaign account fired back, misspelling Thompson's name and calling him "Matt Laurer's sloppy seconds chiming in to take an L."
Thompson is married to Brooke Nevils, a former NBC News producer whose 2017 complaint led to Lauer's firing from the Today show and who later alleged, in Ronan Farrow's 2019 book Catch and Kill, that Lauer raped her during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Lauer denied the allegation, calling the encounter consensual.
The campaign deleted the post, then put out a post alleging Thompson has “poor judgment on women and GA politics, doubling down on the attacks against Nevils.
Phillips has been a fixture at Collins' side for years, and a recurring source of headaches. A former Georgia state director for Donald Trump, he helped Collins win his 2022 runoff against Trump-backed Vernon Jones, then ran his congressional office and built him into the early front-runner in the Senate race. Through each controversy, Collins kept him on up until now.
Phillips had been under a congressional Ethics investigation, which a source familiar with the matter said has been dropped.
A January report from the Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC) had found "substantial reason to believe" House rules were broken when Phillips hired his girlfriend, Caroline Craze, as a district office intern.
Colleagues said she did no work but was paid $10,200, while allegedly employed full-time at Cox Communications. The OCC report also questioned whether Phillips collected his congressional salary while working on campaigns and how he used official travel funds.
A separate review of spending records found he was reimbursed about $170,000 for office expenses, most of it for franking that is permitted under House rules. Collins' office denied wrongdoing, calling the complaint a "sad attempt to derail" his campaign and blaming disgruntled former staffers.
Phillips' history of controversy predates the complaint. He resigned from Trump's 2016 Georgia campaign after a guilty plea to criminal trespassing tied to a 2008 incident in which he destroyed a laptop and slashed someone’s tires resurfaced.
In 2022, he was charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly kicking a Republican activist's dog. In 2024, he was accused of spitting in the face of a ballot-security advocate at the opening of a Trump campaign office in Valdosta. More recently, a video circulated that appeared to show him throwing a punch in a Washington D.C. bar. Prosecutors declined to pursue several of the cases, and Phillips has downplayed the incidents.
For months, Collins defended his long-time staffer.
"He's a great guy, and I have full confidence in him," he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in January, after giving Phillips the title of senior policy adviser. "Politics is a rough sport, and they say nice guys finish last. I like winning."
Trump has so far stayed neutral in the primary, with both candidates vying for his endorsement.
