Trump, in a statement, praised Manafort’s work on the campaign and called him a “true professional”. The story of his departure might be titled “Chronicle of a Parting Easily Foretold”. He says he’s resigned willingly after realizing that Trump had a competent new team that needed space.
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Manafort faced severe criticism after media reports alleged Thursday that he lobbied on behalf of foreign governments, including Ukraine’s now-deposed Russian-backed government, without disclosing that he was working as an agent of a foreign government.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort resigned on Friday in the wake of campaign shake-up and revelations about his work in Ukraine. In the same way that Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager up until Manafort replaced him in early April, was sacrificed.
Ukrainian journalist and member of parliament Serhiy Leshchenko holds pages showing allegedly signings of payments to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort from an illegal shadow accounting book of the party of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych during a press conference in Kiev on August 19.
Roger Stone, a former business associate of Manafort, denied he’d left Trump’s campaign because of the reshuffle, Bloomberg reported.
Clinton had pulled away significantly from Trump following the two parties’ national conventions last month, during which the candidates formally accepted the nomination to run for president. “And I do regret it – particularly where it may have caused personal pain”.
Will Manafort’s resignation matter?
“The firm has retained Caplin & Drysdale as independent, outside legal counsel to determine if we were misled by the Centre for a Modern Ukraine or any other individuals with regard to the Centre’s potential ties to foreign governments or political parties”, the statement said.
Neither Manafort nor Gates were taking a paycheck from the Trump campaign as of June 30, according to campaign finance reports filed with federal regulators. Trump’s now had three top management reshuffles in a calendar year, a high number even by the low standards of political management. Trump is losing to Hillary Clinton in every poll, down by an average of 6 points nationwide.
One reason is surely the influence of Trump’s family. He urged them to abandon Democrats, who he said only take advantage of African-American voters. The campaign argues that the new leadership is designed to create a comfortable and effective environment for Trump to pull through in the final stretch.
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“Well, look it’s obviously a hard thing for anybody when they change jobs and have a position that they’ve been so invested in for a long time and really put their heart and soul into something, to not be part of it, particularly when you’re this close”, Lewandowski told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on “At This Hour”. “He’s a television star”, writes Vox’s Matthew Yglesias. He’s running for president.
