USA news media is reporting that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort has resigned effective today.
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Manafort has recently come under scrutiny over ties to a Ukranian political party that supported Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Manafort’s title was technically campaign chairman for Trump, the Republican nominee, but he served as de-facto campaign manager since Trump fired Corey Lewandowski in June.
In a statement on Friday, Trump said he had accepted Manafort’s resignation. “I am very appreciative for his great work in helping to get us where we are today…”
The shakeup comes less than three months to the election in November.
Earlier this week, Trump brought on two new top campaign officials in a move largely seen as a sidelining of Manafort.
It seems that Mr. Manafort’s resignation will eventually lead to more of Trump’s staff leaving, as Bannon and Conway are already considering hiring additional people.
Paul Manafort’s short tenure as the guy in charge of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is at an end. Now with new campaign team leadership in place, one senior aide said it was “writing on wall” that Manafort would leave. The Trump campaign is still loaded with staff who have ties to Russian Federation. “And believe it or not, I regret it”, he said in Charlotte, North Carolina, Thursday night (Aug. 18).
Trump heads to MI on Friday night for a campaign rally.
For all his tactical success, Manafort was unwittingly dragged into the distractions he was trying to eliminate.
After warring behind the scenes for months with Lewandowski, who had little regard for Manafort, Lewandoswki was sacked earlier this summer.
Manafort is stepping down in the wake of a campaign shake-up, as well as revelations about his work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. Manafort’s resignation – which also likely consolidates Conway’s power – took some of his fellow staffers by surprise, because they had expected him to stay on as an advisor despite his downward bump in position.
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The campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has spoken of “troubling connections between Donald Trump’s team and pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine”.
