Opinion polls show Trump trailing Democrat Hillary Clinton nationally and in key battleground states less than three months from Election Day and just weeks before early voting begins in some locations. “I have done that”, Trump said during his appearance in Charlotte, North Carolina. “The conversations that I participated in, it was a mutual and a very mutually respectful decision”. “Paul is a true professional and I wish him the greatest success”. Manafort’s exit coincides what supporters call a new era in the Trump campaign following the appointment Wednesday of a right-wing news executive as CEO and the promotion of a respected pollster to campaign manager.
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Manafort took over the campaign two months ago when campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was sacked. Roger Ailes, the recently departed Fox News chairman, was present in New Jersey as the hastily called campaign meeting took place, and he is expected to play a role behind the scenes, including discussing debates with him.
“She’s used to dealing with certifiable people.as long as you follow the insane rules you can get along perfectly”, the second source said.
Manafort’s exit from Trump’s campaign is the second major departure in the past few months, with campaign manager Corey Lewandowski fired on June 20.
“Kelly’s telling Trump what he wants to hear”, the source said. The friend added that’s not a knock on either of them, but just “how (Manafort) rolls”.
The status of Manafort’s deputy, Rick Gates, was unclear. In 1996, Bill Clinton didn’t campaign for a Democratic Congress, but Hillary Clinton has made taking back Congress a key part of her campaign’s message.
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’.
But Mr Trump “was not a candidate that could be corralled”, former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said on MSNBC television.
The Trump campaign spent about $1.8 million in July on the “Make America Great Again” gear, including hats, mugs, and T-shirts, that it sells to raise money.
Manafort ended up taking over the campaign two months ago after Lewandowski was sacked when he became a distraction to the candidate over a string of high-profile fights.
The disclosures about their work came as Trump faced criticism for his friendly overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin and as Trump announced that, if elected, he would ask senior officials in his administration not to accept speaking fees, for five years after leaving office, from corporations that lobby “or from any entity tied to a foreign government”.
Even in a country with the shortest of memories, Trump has burned too many bridges, insulted too many people and stroked the wrong crowd. Trump continues to campaign for his run for president of the United States. “But you had two of these things in concert”, said a GOP strategist who knows Manafort and, like others interviewed, requested anonymity to comment on the Trump campaign.
“You can get rid of Manafort”, campaign manager Robby Mook said, “but that doesn’t end the odd bromance Trump has with Putin”. Paul Manafort, you had the Worst Week in Washington.
BRIANNA KEILAR: And for more on the situation in Louisiana and the response to it, I want to bring in Mary Landrieu, the former U.S. Senator from Louisiana.
“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”.
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“I fully recognise the outreach to the African-American community is at an area where the Republican Party must do better, and it will do better”.
