Manafort denied taking “a single “off-the-books cash payment” or ever doing work “for the governments of Ukraine or Russian Federation”, as alleged by the New York Times.
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Hillary Clinton’s campaign called the findings “troubling”, especially considering the Republican nominee’s apparent affinity for Russian President Vladmir Putin.
But yesterday The New York Times reported that handwritten ledgers found in the Ukraine show $12.7 million in previously unreported cash payments to Manafort made by Yanukovych’s political party from 2007 to 2012. I have never received a single “off-the-books cash payment” as falsely “reported” by the New York Times, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russian Federation. Campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s title will stay the same, but Trump is promoting pollster Kellyanne Conway to campaign manager and he’s bringing in Stephen Bannon of Breitbart News as chief executive officer. Manafort said that the mere suggestion that he accepted payments is unfounded, nonsensical, and silly. He added that all payments received during his time assisting Yanukovych were disbursed throughout his entire local and worldwide staff, including his polling and research, and election and television advertising teams.
The Democratic National Committee on Monday called on Trump to “disclose any and all ties, financial or otherwise, that he or his campaign aides have to the Russian government”.
Lewandowski, now a CNN contributor, was responding to a Times article about a New York Times investigation into Manafort’s work as a paid consultant to Ukraine’s ruling political party. “While I was in Crimea, I constantly saw evidence suggesting that Paul Manafort considered autonomy [from Ukraine] as a tool to enhance the reputation of Yanukovych and win over the local electorate”.
The lobbying firms continued the work until shortly after Yanukovych fled the country in February 2014, during a popular revolt prompted in part by his government’s crackdown on protesters and close ties to Russian Federation.
The report cites Gates as saying that “he and Manafort introduced the lobbying firms to the European Centre nonprofit and occasionally consulted with the firms on Ukrainian politics”.
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The National Review’s Jim Geraghty says the report is unlikely to have a significant impact on Trump’s unconventional political campaign, though. The Podesta Group was founded in 1987 by Tony Podesta and his brother John, who now is campaign chairman for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
