Donald Trump’s US presidential campaign sealed a major staff reshuffle with the resignation on Friday of its campaign chairman, and the Republican nominee tried to end weeks of upheaval to focus on beating Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
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Trump’s campaign on Wednesday announced a shakeup, its second in as many months, with the addition of Breitbart executive Stephen Bannon as campaign CEO and the promotion of pollster Kellyanne Conway to campaign manager.
Trump earlier today said in a statement that Manafort offered his resignation. Trump praised Manafort’s work on the campaign and called him a “true professional”. The businessman has fallen behind Hillary Clinton in the polls after a series of political missteps and Trump was looking to jolt his campaign.
Trump’s statement on Manafort did not mention the broader campaign shake-up or the Ukrainian lobbying controversy. Trump hired him in March to help the campaign compete with the well-oiled political machine of Sen. It’s also time for Donald Trump to come clean on his own business dealings with Russian interests, given recent news reports about his web of deep financial connections to business groups with Kremlin ties.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as his campaign manager Paul Manafort and daughter Ivanka look on during his walk through at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Just a few days ago, Manafort saw his official role in the campaign diminished after Trump shook up his staff.
Earlier this month, he said “the candidate is in control of his campaign, that’s number one, and I’m in control of doing the things he wants me to do in the campaign”. The allegations about the payments were first made in The New York Times on Monday. In a speech, he expressed “regret” for sometimes not choosing the right words or saying the “wrong thing” in the heat of debate.
He had been recruited in June in an attempt to bring a more professional touch to the campaign but has struggled to rein in Mr Trump’s freewheeling ways.
Trump said in a statement he had accepted Manafort’s resignation, but did not offer an explanation for the departure.
“And I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain”, he added.
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Manafort denied receiving untaxed, under-the-table payments from Yanukovych or his allies but did say his political consulting firm has done work for overseas clients in the past.
