Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump apologized on Thursday for past remarks that “may have caused personal pain” as he sought to refocus his message in the face of falling opinion poll numbers in his first speech since shaking up his campaign team this week. “Paul is a true professional and I wish him the greatest success”.
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The week was filled with bumps in the road for Manafort.
Manafort was under scrutiny earlier this week after the New York Times reported his name appeared in a “black ledger” of off-the-book payments made by former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s party. Thursday’s revelations from Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) were followed on Friday by claims by a top lawmaker that Paul Manafort lobbied in favour of a pro-Kremlin party even after February’s 2014 pro-EU revolt pulled Ukraine out of Russia’s orbit.
In response to the story, Mr. Manafort said he never received a single “off-the-books cash payment” as reported, and that he’s never done work for the governments of Ukraine and Russian Federation.
“You can get rid of Manafort, but that doesn’t end the odd bromance Trump has with Putin”, said Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager.
Earlier in the week Trump appointed Steve Bannon, a right-wing news executive, as CEO and promoted pollster Kellyanne Conway to campaign manager, in what has signaled a marked new tone following colossal missteps. “I will not rest until children of every color in this country are fully included in the American Dream”, Trump said. Nothing would be more fun than a Corey/Bannon/Conway knife-fight for power with Manafort crony Roger Stone off-camera, whispering into Trump’s ear.
He first took control of Mr Trump’s campaign after the businessman’s campaign manager was sacked in June.
This week, the Republican nominee for president shifted gears to launch his attacks on Hillary Clinton’s health – alleging she doesn’t have the “mental and physical stamina” to be president. In his speech announcing his run previous year, he said that immigrants coming to the USA illegally from Mexico were bringing drugs and were rapists, and some, he assumed, “were good people”.
Manafort leaves the campaign amid a rising number of news reports about his past work for pro-Russian political elements in Ukraine.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign responded to his speech, calling it “Trump’s teleprompter regret”.
“Since his campaign began 482 days ago, Trump has been insulting people without shame or regret”.
Promising to be the voice of “forgotten Americans”, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has expressed regret for hurtful statements he has made in the past.
“Most Clinton supporters take the opposite view: 59 per cent say life for people like them has gotten better over the past half-century, while 19 per cent think it has gotten worse and 18 percent see little change”, the polls said.
In recent days, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had been searching for someone to join the campaign whom both he and Trump could agree was trustworthy, according to a person close to the campaign.
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Reading from prepared remarks to a crowd in North Carolina, Trump said, “Sometimes, in the heat of the debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing”.
