Trump announced Friday on Twitter he accepted Manafort’s resignation, though he didn’t specify why. “He helped us get through the primary process, he helped us get through the convention, he did a great job with the delegates”, Trump said. “I wish him the greatest success”.
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The Clinton campaign has pointed to Manafort’s work in Ukraine to add to its criticism of favorable comments that Trump has made about Russian President Vladimir Putin and to sow doubts in voters’ minds about whether the Russian government has an unseen hand in the us election.
Also Friday, Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators released copies of handwritten ledgers detailing possible cash payments from Ukrainian political figures to Manafort totaling more than $12 million. Manafort has been beating back reports from multiple media outlets in recent days over his ethics, which have been egged on by a Clinton campaign eager to highlight Trump’s ties to the Kremlin.
Manafort was hired by Trump in March as a convention manager, tasked with helping Trump secure the Republican nomination.
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.
According to The Washington Post, this decision comes during a critical week for Trump’s campaign, now under pressure from Republican leaders and wealthy contributors as well, both groups trying to bring his campaign on the right path.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, center, and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, listens to flood victims Jimmy and Olive Gordan during a tour of their flood damaged home in Denham Springs, La., Friday, Aug. 19, 2016.
Manafort and Gates have previously said they were not doing work that required them to register. “You can get rid of Manafort, but that doesn’t end the odd bromance Trump has with Putin”, he said. For the first time in his campaign, he expressed regret for some of the corrosive remarks that he has made since he launched his campaign in June 2015, and for “the personal pain” they may have caused, though he did not identify which ones.
Manafort has worked as an adviser to the presidential campaigns of several US presidents and presidential candidates, including Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush.
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Earlier in the week, Trump promoted pollster and frequent TV talking head Kellyanne Conway to campaign manager and named Stephen Bannon, co-founder of Breitbart News, as the campaign’s chief executive.
