Accounts of the controversial payments surfaced this weekend when The New York Times reported Manafort’s name appears on a list of payments amounting to $12.7 million between 2007 and 2012.
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Officials have yet to determine whether Manafort actually received the cash, but they claim the money was earmarked for the 67-year old, the NYT stated. Investigators are probing whether the money was part of an illegal off-the-book system that may have also made payments to election officials, according to the Times in a story published Sunday night.
“The simplest answer is the truth: I am a campaign professional”, he continued.
Mr. Manafort’s Ukraine work has become an issue for him and the Trump campaign, for which he serves as chairman.
Manafort maintained “all of the political payments directed to me were for my entire political team: campaign staff (local and international), polling and research, election integrity and television advertising”.
“My work in Ukraine ceased following the country’s parliamentary elections in October 2014”, he said in the statement. “Donald Trump has a responsibility to disclose campaign chair Paul Manafort’s and all other campaign employees’ and advisers’ ties to Russian or pro-Kremlin entities, including whether any of Trump’s employees or advisers are now representing and or being paid by them”, said Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, in a statement.
Manafort’s close relationship with former Ukrainian president and Russian ally Viktor Yanukovych only underscores how many pro-Russia flacks have embedded themselves in Trump’s campaign and reminds voters that Trump’s own finances are entirely opaque despite previous promises to release his tax returns, which might disclose his own involvement with Russian oligarchs.
“The Times does fail to disclose the fact that the Clinton Foundation has taken (and may still take) payments in exchange for favors from Hillary Clinton while serving as Secretary of State”, he said.
As Trump prepares to deliver a major speech on terrorism in Ohio Monday, the Clinton campaign called the news “troubling”, adding Trump “has a responsibility to disclose campaign chair Paul Manafort’s and all other campaign employees’ and advisers’ ties to Russian or pro-Kremlin entities, including whether any of Trump’s employees or advisers are now representing and or being paid by them”.
The report comes amid increased scrutiny of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, which exploded late last month after a hack on Democratic National Committee email accounts was tied back to Russian military intelligence. “This is not discussed despite the overwhelming evidence in emails that Hillary Clinton attempted to cover up”, the statement said.
While the move was initially read as a bit of ham-handed schadenfreude, Lewandowski later said he was only trying to point out media bias against Trump. Manafort immediately began by criticizing the media for focusing on controversies like “Second Amendment people” during what was a “very substantive” week for them.
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Trump “has a responsibility to disclose campaign chair Paul Manafort’s and all other campaign employees’ and advisers’ ties to Russian or pro-Kremlin entities, including whether any of Trump’s employees or advisers are now representing and or being paid by them”, Mook said.
