Donald Trump may not be where he is now if it wasn’t for outgoing campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s efforts to line up delegates, leading to the NY businessman becoming his party’s presidential candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Friday.
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“This morning Paul Manafort offered, and I accepted, his resignation from the campaign”, Trump said in a statement on Friday.
Manafort – who joined the campaign in March 2016 and took the helm in June, just before the July Republican National Convention – came under fire Thursday amid a scathing Associated Press investigation. Trump went on to say he appreciated Manafort’s work on the campaign and wished him great success.
His departure clears the way for Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon to assume full control of day-to-day operations, after he was appointed chief executive alongside new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway on Wednesday.
Critics accused him last week of inciting violence against his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in a remark about the right to bear arms, and media reports have swirled about a campaign in crisis and a candidate apparently incapable of reeling in crass remarks. The documents were hand-written ledgers of so-called “black accounts” a Ukrainian lawmaker and journalist said are evidence of illegal, off-the-books payments by former President Viktor Yanukovych.
Some described the shake-up as a demotion for Manafort, though the campaign said he would remain in his role as chairman and chief strategist.
“Paul Manafort’s resignation is a clear admission that the disturbing connections between Donald Trump’s team and pro-Kremlin elements in Russian Federation and Ukraine are untenable”, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement. The former campaign chairman had past business dealings that were under extreme scrutiny.
Manafort has denied any wrongdoing. However, it can not be denied that Manfort’s past has been a problem area for the campaign and many believe that it was the right move after all. Yanukovych, presently living in exile in Russian Federation, and his closest advisors are now being investigated by criminal prosecutors in Ukraine, according to the New York Times, which broke the story internationally on Sunday. Russian officials have rejected that accusation. “And the Ukrainian stuff was becoming a real distraction”.
“I have done that, and believe it or not, I regret it”. And I do regret it, particularly when it may have caused personal pain.
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Lewandowski will not be rejoining the campaign, said a person familiar with the matter. Both had grown uncomfortable with Manafort, the person said. “But that said, Trump has clearly been having significant problems in the polls and he needed to do something differently and perhaps this is the beginning of the attempt”.
