Donald Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort resigned from the campaign Friday morning.
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Trump said in a statement that he accepted Paul Manafort’s resignation Friday morning, and that he is “very appreciative for his great work in helping to get us where we are today”.
A pair of Republican congressman have also called for investigations into Manafort’s business past.
Last weekend, Ukrainian officials said Manafort’s name appeared on a list of “black accounts” made by ousted Ukraine President Victor Yanukovych, a known supporter of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
Questions have arisen about Manafort’s previous work for the political party of the Kremlin-backed former Ukrainian leader, Viktor Yanukovich. But he soon fought with Trump’s campaign manager at the time, Corey Lewandowski, eventually landing Manafort in the campaign chairman position and resulting in Lewandowski’s termination.
It certainly caught the eye of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which moved quickly to stamp out any discussion of a “new Trump”.
Manafort had denied he received any off-the-book payments and was involved with Yanukovych’s party, but the allegations seemed to have hurt him.
Manafort, a veteran of Republican presidential campaigns dating back to Gerald Ford’s failed 1976 race, was seen as a potentially steadying figure when he took the reins of Trump’s often free-wheeling campaign in May. Per The Post, Manafort was all for adding Conway and Brannon and even though he is resigning from the campaign, he still supports Trump and it’s a parting on good terms. “And believe it or not, I regret it”, he said in Charlotte, North Carolina, Thursday night (Aug. 18). In a statement, Trump thanked Manafort for his help on getting the nomination.
John Feehery, a Republican strategist, said it would have been unsustainable for Manafort to stay on after Wednesday’s hires.
After warring behind the scenes for months with Lewandowski, who had little regard for Manafort, Lewandoswki was sacked earlier this summer.
The Clinton campaign, for its part, insisted Trump still needs “to come clean on his own financial dealings” with groups tied to Russian Federation. The Trump campaign is still loaded with staff who have ties to Russian Federation.
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Whether Manafort stepped down voluntarily (maybe he didn’t want to be associated with a likely defeat) or was pushed out (he was at the center of many ongoing controversies and wasn’t leading the operation to success) is, at least for now, unclear.
