But it said in a statement that it could not be certain that Manafort ever actually received the money.
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It came in a week when Trump has already reshuffled top campaign leaders, effectively demoting Manafort, and has tried to be more disciplined and on message as he seeks to reset his campaign against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for the November 8 election.
Trump, in a statement, praised Manafort’s work on the campaign and called him a “true professional”. “There’s a lot of news that could be made about her”, said Rick Tyler, a former aide to Ted Cruz, the Texas senator and onetime Trump rival.
Trump has started to advertise on television and appears at ease with his new campaign team. Manafort had previously served as a public relations advisor to Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych-now living in self-imposed exile in Russia-and his Regions Party between 2007 and 2012.
“St. Amant loves Trump because he is here in the middle of everything”, said Doug Ford, a Trump supporter who put out a sign in his front yard welcoming the Republican to the flooded town, where his trailer was filled with water.
By contrast, Clinton’s campaign has spent more than $75 million on ads in the weeks since she effectively locked up the nomination in early June, according to Kantar Media’s political ad tracker.
In a previous shake-up, Manafort, who first joined the team in March, took over the running of the campaign from Corey Lewandowski, who was sacked as campaign manager in June.
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign chair and convention manager Paul Manafort appears at a press conference at the Republican Convention in Cleveland, US, July 19, 2016.
The AP, citing sources with direct knowledge of the effort, said the transfers were set up in ways to obscure the Ukrainian party’s attempts to sway US policies, using a nonprofit organization to distance funds from Ukrainian politicians.
Manafort and Gates never registered as foreign agents for their work as required under federal law.
Democratic candidate for president Hillary Clinton responded to her opponent within minutes, tweeting: “This is so ignorant it’s staggering”. John Podesta has not been with the firm for several years, but his brother is its chairman.
Trump’s campaign on Wednesday announced a staff shake-up replacing Manafort as campaign manager after just two months. He will remain chairman and chief strategist.
Manafort denied any wrongdoing, saying he had “never received a single ‘off-the books cash payment, ‘” or worked for the governments of Ukraine or Russian Federation.
A Ukrainian lawmaker said Manafort should be questioned by investigators over funds he allegedly received from a secret account for working on behalf of the toppled president.
Marlon Marshall, Clinton’s director of state campaigns and political engagement, said African-Americans had everything to lose from Trump “who questions the citizenship of the first African-American president, courts white supremacists, and has been sued for housing discrimination against communities of color”.
The e-mails obtained by the AP do not describe details about the role of Manafort, Gates’ boss at the firm.
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The formal merging of such political ideologies with the Trump campaign must be seen as risky and challenging to minority communities across the nation. He said he and Manafort had introduced the advocacy group to the firms and sometimes consulted with the firms on Ukrainian politics, the report said.
