Trump had planned to retain Manafort as campaign chairman, but the veteran consultant opted to leave instead.
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Trump is trailing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in polls nationally and in key swing states where his campaign lacks organization.
“Nobody understands how bad it is”, Trump told reporters, after briefly helping unload a truck of supplies while cameras captured the moment.
Paul Manafort, the chief of U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign, has resigned following the campaign’s major shakeup two days ago, the NY billionaire announced Friday.
“Manafort didn’t work for free in Ukraine, he served the Party of Regions for over 10 years and it is clear that his work was paid”, Leshchenko told a news conference.
Gates also directed the firms to gather information in the US on a rival lobbying operation, including a review of its public lobbying disclosures, to determine who was behind that effort, the emails show. The report said Manafort and Rick Gates, his deputy in his consulting work and on the Trump campaign, did not register as foreign agents, a requirement for those lobbying on behalf of foreign leaders or parties.
CNN said the Federal Bureau of Investigation probe wasn’t exclusively focused on Manafort, but he and another United States political operative, Tony Podesta were named. Manafort has played a vital role in Trump’s sweeping victory during the Republican primaries. Manafort’s resignation comes hours after certain damning revelations from Ukraine – a connection that has been exploited by Trump’s rival.
Manafort, who stepped down from Trump’s campaign team Friday, is named in a broad-based US investigation relating to American ties to alleged corruption by former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, US media report.
But the Clinton camp also found itself on the defensive for the first time in weeks.
In East Baton Rouge Parish, Friday, Trump’s motorcade drove through hard-hit communities, where ripped up carpet and flooring, furniture and the entire contents of homes were piled on the curb.
“We knew you would be here for us!” another shouted.
“Thank you for coming, Mr. Trump”, one woman screamed.
Conway said Trump made his own decision to express his regrets. Aides have noted Obama is receiving regular updates on the conditions.
Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman for Breitbart News, is the new campaign CEO, while pollster and consultant Kellyanne Conway is now campaign manager. The decision suggested to some that Trump might ramp up the divisive rhetoric that has angered minorities and alienated large swaths of the electorate. Or at least this is that Paul Manafort, the businessman’s campaign manager, thought and decided that it’s time to put an end to their collaboration. The campaign’s first television ads of the general election went up on Friday, about two months after Clinton began airing general-election ads.
Trump flew into MI later on Friday to address a rally, explaining his appearance in an open-necked shirt and trucker hat by saying he had come straight from “a tour of the suffering and devastation in Louisiana”.
Trump, who has been accused of offending Mexicans, Muslims, immigrants, the disabled and fellow Republicans such as John McCain during his 14-month presidential campaign did not specify which comments he regretted and said at one point that journalists have often taken him “out of context”.
“You live in your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed – what the hell do you have to lose?” he said, adding a bold prediction: “At the end of four years, I will get over 95 percent of the African-American vote”.
Citing disproportionate levels of poverty, unemployment and failing schools, Trump claimed that “no group in America” has been more harmed than blacks by the former secretary of state’s policies. Obama won roughly 93 percent of black voters in his re-election campaign in 2012.
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In another sign of a new direction in the campaign, Trump on Thursday made an unusual admission of regret for some of his past comments. “I have done that”, the GOP nominee, reading from prepared text, said at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, “And believe it or not, I regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain”.
