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Trump’s 2020 Campaign Brings in Ex-Cambridge Analytica Staffer, Says Report

Matt Oczkowski was head of product at the scandal-hit British political consulting firm before it shut down in 2018.

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has brought in a former staffer from the scandal-hit Cambridge Analytica to oversee its data operation, according to a report from Politico. Matt Oczkowski was head of product at the British political consulting firm before it shut down in 2018 following allegations that it improperly obtained the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users. Some of that data was allegedly used to profile American voters and target them with pro-Trump material in 2016. Now Oczkowski and his company, HuMn Behavior, are reportedly working on the data program of Trump’s 2020 campaign. Politico reports Oczkowski will spend his time determining the best places for Trump and his surrogates to campaign in person, and figuring out which states are the best targets for Trump gains. Trump’s team has repeatedly denied using Cambridge’s Facebook data in 2016, and has reportedly said it has no interest in using the kind of psychographic voter targeting techniques the company became known for.