MAGA Senate hopeful fires staffer for 'despicable' post about opposing strategist's wife

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) has fired Brandon Phillips, a top staffer on his Senate campaign, after an explosive post from his "War Room" campaign account attacking an opposing staffer's wife for being sexually assaulted.

The staffing shakeup was reported by congressional reporter Juliegrace Brufke on Friday evening.

The offending post came in response to Luke Thompson, who advises rival GOP Senate candidate and former football coach Derek Dooley, who mocked the Collins campaign on X following new polling that showed their lead dropping after the runoff.

Collins' account posted "Matt Laurer's [sic] sloppy seconds chiming in to take an L" — a reference to the fact that Thompson's wife came forward to accuse former NBC News personality Matt Lauer of rape, and later tried to take her own life over the situation.

The post was deleted — but not before it went viral and generated widespread outrage.

Collins took to X himself to apologize for the situation.

"Earlier today, a campaign advisor sent out a despicable and unauthorized twitter comment using a Team Collins campaign account," wrote Collins. "The statement was made without my knowledge or approval and in no way represents or reflects my values or the values of this campaign. I want to apologize for this offensive tweet. I have made staffing changes to ensure this type of behavior never happens again."

Collins and Dooley are currently vying for President Donald Trump's endorsement as they seek the GOP nomination to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.