Trump fires Virginia co-chair for protesting against RNC

NEW YORK, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Donald Trump said this week he's planning to take on the Republican establishment, but apparently his campaign's co-chair in Virginia isn't permitted to do that.

The campaign fired Corey Stewart for taking part in a protest outside the Republican National Committee's national headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Stewart said beforehand that he was upset about claims the RNC was planning to divert funds away from Trump and funnel them toward helping down ballot GOP races.

"I stood up to the RNC. I stood up to the establishment," he said Thursday.

Because of his growing frustration, Stewart joined the demonstration organized by Women for Trump groups in Maryland and Virginia.

Apparently, though, Trump's campaign didn't appreciate him pulling such a "stunt."

"Corey made this decision when he staged a stunt in front of the RNC without the knowledge or the approval of the Trump campaign," the GOP nominee's deputy campaign manager, David Bossie, said in a statement Thursday. "He is being replaced, effective immediately."

Stewart was responsible for various management duties in Virginia -- a battleground state the Trump campaign now appears to be conceding to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"They threatened to fire me if I didn't shut down the demonstration, and they made good on that threat," Stewart said.

The Virginia co-chair said he knew he'd be fired if he went ahead with his involvement, but said he did anyway because he needed to call out Republicans for trying to "sabotage" Trump's White House bid.

Stewart was the only prominent Virginia Republican to defend Trump after an audio recording emerged last week, in which the billionaire made insensitive remarks about women.

"[Trump] acted like a frat boy, as a lot of guys do," he said in his defense.