Republican 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump at the first official Republican presidential candidates debate in Cleveland, Ohio, August 6, 2015. REUTERS/Brian Snyder Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and longtime adviser Roger Stone have parted ways, according to both men. 
 
 Trump told The Washington Post's Robert Costa that he had fired Stone late Friday evening and Trump's campaign said "Mr. Trump fired Roger Stone," an assertion Stone categorically denied in an email to Business Insider. 
 
 Stone told Business Insider he resigned Saturday morning in a letter to Trump. Politico's Mark Caputo also reported that Stone had sent Trump the letter a little more than an hour before Trump told a Washington Post reporter he had fired Stone. 
 
 The news comes as Trump is facing intense scrutiny over comments he made Friday evening about Fox News host Megyn Kelly, with whom he clashed during Thursday night's first Republican presidential debate. 
 
 In the letter, Stone suggested the "current controversies" and Trump's fights with high-profile media figures have reached such a "high volume that it has distracted attention from your platform and overwhelmed your core message." 
 
 "With this current direction of the candidacy, I no longer can remain involved in your campaign," Stone wrote in the letter. 
 
 A source close to Stone told Business Insider that he was distraught at the escalation of feuds with media figures like Kelly while policy plans and issue papers sat on a shelf, still unapproved by Trump. 
 
 Stone is a veteran Republican strategist who once worked for President Richard Nixon, and has been one of Trump's closest confidantes for a lengthy period of time. He was the chairman of Trump's exploratory presidential committee in 2000, and a source close to Stone said they have been friends for about 35 years. Costa described Stone as Trump's "longest serving adviser." 
 
 The split between Trump and Stone follows extensive infighting on Trump's campaign that spilled out from behind the scenes after a July 31 story from Business Insider that revealed a long history of racially charged Facebook posts that were made by former adviser Sam Nunberg. Following the story, last Sunday, the Trump campaign fired Nunberg, who was a protege of Stone's and had clashed with campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. 
 
 Screenshot Via YouTube 
 
 After Nunberg's firing, anonymous allies of his told multiple media outlets they believed Lewandowski was somehow responsible for the Business Insider story about his Facebook posts. Lewandowski was not involved in uncovering Nunberg's social media history, but the tension between the two camps on the campaign increased to the point that New York Magazine's Gabriel Sherman described the situation as a "civil war." 
 
 In a phone call with Business Insider after the Stone split became public on Saturday, a Trump campaign source disputed the notion Stone quit over the public feud with Kelly. The source said the campaign confirmed that a consultant who was recently terminated attempted to plant negative stories in the wake of Nunberg's firing. 
 
 They also said this consultant had a long history of sending emails filled with "vulgar and personal insults" as well as threats to other members of the campaign staff, particularly women. The Trump campaign source did not specially name the consultant responsible for this alleged behavior, but they said Stone was aware of this person's efforts to plant negative stories and of the inappropriate emails. They also claimed Stone continues to work with this person in spite of this behavior. 
 
 Though the source did not accuse Nunberg of planting stories and and sending lewd emails, they pointed out no other advisers have recently been fired by Trump and work with Stone. Nunberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story. 
 
 Trump suggested to Costa that he was "cleaning house" of "publicity seekers" by dismissing Stone. 
 
 "I want to surround myself only with the best and most serious people," Trump told Costa. 
 
 A Trump campaign spokesperson released the following statement: 
 
 Mr. Trump fired Roger Stone last night. We have a tremendously successful campaign and Roger wanted to use the campaign for his own personal publicity. He has had a number of articles about him recently and Mr. Trump wants to keep the focus of the campaign on how to Make America Great Again. 
 
 And here's the full text of the letter Stone says he sent to Trump on Saturday morning: 
 
 Roger Stone. 
 
 Dear Donald: We have enjoyed a close relationship — both personal and political/professional — since the 1980s. You know that I wish only the best for you. I was proud to have played a role in the launch of your presidential campaign. Your message of "Make America Great Again" harkened back to the Reagan era. Restoring national pride and bringing jobs back to America — your initial and still underlying message — is a solid conservative message. In fact, it catapulted you instantly into a commanding lead in the race. 
 
 Unfortunately, the current controversies involving personalities and provocative media fights have reached such a high volume that it has distracted attention from your platform and overwhelmed your core message. With this current direction of the candidacy, I no longer can remain involved in your campaign. 
 
 I care about you as a friend and wish you well. I care about our nation, too, and wish it well. Be assured I will continue to be vocal and active in the national debate to ensure our nation does not again turn to the failed and distrusted Bush/Clinton families. 
 
 Let's make America great again! 
 
 Sincerely, 
 
 Roger Stone ||||| Donald Trump made the surprising announcement Saturday afternoon that he was firing his top adviser, Roger Stone, but, hours before that, the political consultant’s friends told POLITICO that he was actually quitting. 
 
 “Sorry @realDonaldTrump didn’t fire me- I fired Trump. Diasagree with diversion to food fight with @megynkelly away core issue messages,” Stone, referencing Trump’s battle with a moderator of Fox’s Republican debate Thursday, said just before 3 p.m. on Twitter. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 Later in the day, Trump’s campaign denied the claims from Stone and his friends and said he was fired the night before. Conspicuously silent: The usually voluble Trump, whose Twitter feed said nothing of the controversy Saturday. 
 
 Earlier in the day, Stone’s friends told POLITICO that he sent an email to Trump announcing his decision to leave the campaign. More than an hour later, Trump told a Washington Post reporter he fired Stone. The news coincidentally hit Twitter about 15 minutes after Stone told a Fox News TV show that he couldn’t appear Saturday because he was no longer affiliated with the campaign, friends say. 
 
 “I can’t believe Roger got out-Trumped, that he got out-Stoned,” one of Stone’s friends said. “Roger’s mistake was trusting Donald and not establishing a clear record that he was resigning first.” 
 
 Regardless of who resigned or was fired first, the campaign shakeup was the first sign that Trump’s election effort was seriously damaged from within after his Thursday night debate performance and his subsequent comments in which he attacked one of the Fox debate moderators, Megyn Kelly. 
 
 Hours before Stone was planning to quit, conservative Erick Erickson disinvited Trump from his RedState gathering on Saturday because of Trump’s increasingly misogynistic attacks on Kelly. 
 
 Stone, who initially would not comment to POLITICO, later appeared on CNN and told anchor Poppy Harlow that he quit. He also confirmed the version of events and conversation that his friends told POLITICO, but said he didn’t want to discuss private campaign matters. Stone would not discuss the events in a follow-up conversation with POLITICO but he called the Trump campaign’s assertion that he was fired “bull.” 
 
 Stone praised Trump but said he thought the campaign was not serving him well. Stone also echoed comments he made in an email that his friends said he sent earlier in the day to Trump. Stone said the email was sent to Trump’s secretary. In the email, obtained earlier by POLITICO, Stone expressed gratitude concerning their longtime relationship, which dates back to the 1980s. 
 
 “I was proud to have played a role in the launch of your presidential campaign. Your message of ‘Make America Great Again’ harkened back to the Reagan era. Restoring national pride and bringing jobs back to America - your initial and still underlying message - is a solid conservative message. In fact, it catapulted you instantly into a commanding lead in the race,” Stone’s email said. 
 
 “Unfortunately, the current controversies involving personalities and provocative media fights have reached such a high volume that it has distracted attention from your platform and overwhelmed your core message,” Stone wrote. “With this current direction of the candidacy, I no longer can remain involved in your campaign.” 
 
 Though longtime friends, Stone and Trump have clashed before – in part because the two men share such similar combustible personalities. Both men are from New York; Stone lives in Fort Lauderdale now and Trump owns the Mar-a-Lago mansion to the north in Palm Beach. A longtime Republican operative, Stone became a libertarian. Trump has flirted with leaving the GOP as well. 
 
 The two clashed after Stone – known universally in political circles as a Nixon-era “dirty trickster” – helped bring down Trump friend and New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in a prostitution scandal. But soon Stone and Trump were back and working together. 
 
 Stone’s friends say internal troubles in the Trump campaign were roiling before Thursday’s debate. Stone had increasingly felt that the campaign team surrounding Trump was feeding his bad habits: megalomania and peevishness. Stone wanted the campaign to focus on a message about taking on the political establishment and running government like a business. 
 
 Then the debate happened, in which Kelly asked Trump about his comments calling women he didn’t like “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.” 
 
 Trump joked that he was referring to just one TV personality, “only Rosie O’Donnell.” 
 
 Kelly continued and pointed out that Trump’s “Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees.” 
 
 Trump derided what he called the scourge of “political correctness” and then said he wasn’t always serious. “And honestly Megyn, if you don’t like it, I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn’t do that.” 
 
 Trump proceeded to do just that later in the evening, posting another’s message on his Twitter account that called Kelly a “bimbo.” 
 
 The next morning, Stone had to fight Trump’s handlers to meet with him for 15 minutes, prompting the following exchange that both of Stone’s friends, independently and separately, tell POLITICO what happened: 
 
 Stone: “Donald, stop with the Megyn Kelly shit. It’s fucking crazy. It’s killing us.” 
 
 Trump: “What do you mean? I won the debate. People loved it.” 
 
 Stone: “You didn’t win the debate.” 
 
 Trump: “Yes I did. Look at the polling. Look at Drudge.” 
 
 Stone: “The Drudge Report poll isn’t a scientific poll. You won’t give me the money to pay for a scientific poll. And you’re off-message.” 
 
 Trump: “There are other polls.” 
 
 Stone: “Those are bullshit polls, Donald. They’re not scientific polls. We need to run a professional campaign and talk about what people really care about.” 
 
 Trump: “We’re winning.” 
 
 After the meeting, Trump did the opposite of what Stone had recommended by going on CNN and trashing Kelly. “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her — wherever,” Trump said, a comment perceived by many to be a reference to a woman’s menstrual cycle. Trump’s campaign later denied that interpretation, but by then Stone was consulting his friends about quitting. 
 
 “He is losing his grip on reality,” Stone told them. “He has these yes-men around him. And now he’s living in a parallel world.” 
 
 After reading this article, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski called POLITICO’s Mike Allen and said, “This conversation [between Trump and Stone] didn’t take place. … He spoke to Roger Stone last night when he terminated him from employment. … That was the first time they talked since the debate.” Lewandowski said Trump fired Stone “some time after 6 p.m.” Friday. The campaign manager said he didn’t know who initiated the call. 
 
 Lewandowski said the conversation described by the two friends suggests an email exchange. “Mr. Trump doesn’t have email and doesn’t email,” the manager said. “Mr. Trump has never sent an email in his life.” 
 
 Lewandowski added, “There was no physical meeting that took place the next morning. We got back from the debate at 3:30 in the morning … These guys never met the next day.” 
 
 Stone kept his apparent criticisms quiet and, before his Friday meeting with Trump, made it seem as if there was no problem. 
 
 “I’ll do whatever the Donald asks me to do. He is a friend of almost 40 years. I attended two of his three weddings. I was at his father’s funeral, his mother’s funeral, his brother-in-law’s funeral,” Stone said Friday morning on “The Joe Piscopo Show” on AM 970 THE ANSWER. 
 
 “I love the Donald. I love what he’s doing, challenging the orthodoxy of the ruling class,” Stone said. “These guys don’t know how to handle it.” 
 
 The following morning, Saturday, Trump was disinvited from the RedState gathering of conservatives in Georgia. Trump claimed he didn’t mind being disinvited. About that time, on Saturday morning, Stone’s friends confirmed to POLITICO that he was intending to leave the campaign. 
 
 Along the way, and soon after informing some at Fox, Trump allegedly trumped Stone. 
 
 “Well this is what happens when you deal with Donald Trump,” one of Stone’s friends said. 
 
 Mike Allen contributed to this report.
– It's been a headline-generating Saturday for Donald Trump, and Megyn Kelly isn't the only reason why. The GOP candidate made what Politico refers to as "the surprising announcement" that his top adviser is no longer with the campaign. But the circumstances around Roger Stone's exit are murky. Trump told the Washington Post Stone was fired; Stone's friends tell Politico that Trump made that comment an hour or so after Stone emailed Trump his resignation. Business Insider reports it got confirmation from Stone that Stone was the one to end things. Those friends shared what they say is the resignation email with Politico. One line: "Unfortunately, the current controversies involving personalities and provocative media fights have reached such a high volume that it has distracted attention from your platform and overwhelmed your core message." However the parting of ways went down, Politico sees it as the first indication that Trump's comments during and after the debate have "seriously damaged" his White House bid.