WASHINGTON ― Paul Manafort, the chairman of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, resigned on Friday.
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Paul Manafort’s short tenure as the guy in charge of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is at an end.
Mr. Trump stated today that “this morning Paul Manafort offered, and I accepted, his resignation from the campaign” according to CNN.
In a sign that Trump is seeking to close the gap, he made a rare apologetic statement Thursday, telling a campaign rally in North Carolina that he has sometimes “said the wrong thing” during his campaign, and “believe it or not, I regret it”.
“It had to happen”, said Republican consultant Bruce Haynes, founding partner of Washington-based Purple Strategies, “The revelations about the Ukranian involvement put the consultant in a position where he was overshadowing the campaign and choking its ability to delver its message”.
A new campaign manager and executive were named earlier this week.
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Reports emerged that Manafort’s name was on a ledger showing he was designated to receive $12.7 million in cash payments from the pro-Russian party of former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych.
“Manafort didn’t work for free in Ukraine, he served the Party of Regions for over 10 years and it is clear that his work was paid”, said investigative journalist and member of parliament Serhiy Leshchenko, Reuters reported.
The departure from Trump’s team did not surprise political consultants. He is the second campaign chairman to have left the Trump campaign, having taken over from Corey Lewandowski just months ago.
His installation at the top of the Trump campaign offers fresh evidence that the GOP nominee has no intention of reining in his brash, outsider’s style or cozying up to the GOP establishment despite his campaign’s recent struggles.
But it seems it was an appointment that both Trump and Manafort came to regret. But, Trump added, “I think it’s time now for a different kind of campaign”.
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Manafort had presided over a period in which Trump had fallen behind in opinion poll numbers in the race against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for the November 8 election. Lewandowski’s problems dealing with outside groups like the RNC had prevented the two organizations from working together to create a joint fundraising apparatus and a robust voter turnout program, two key elements of a campaign that Trump eschewed during the primary.
