“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”, he said.
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Trump said in a statement he had accepted Manafort’s resignation, but did not offer an explanation for the departure.
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 didn’t work for free in Ukraine, he served the Party of Regions for over 10 years and it is clear that his work was paid”, Leshchenko told a news conference.
“Sometimes, in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing”, Trump told backers in Charlotte, N.C.
The effort included not just legislative outreach but also attempts to sway American public opinion and gather political intelligence on competing lobbying efforts in the U.S.
As evidenced by the e-mails, Gates directed Washington lobbying firms, Mercury LLC and the Podesta Group Inc. within the period between 2012 and 2014.
A portion of the website for the website fara.gov, on the Foreign Agents Registration Act, is photographed in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016.
The documents now released show Manafort’s name listed as a recipient of funds totaling $12.7 million in 22 line-item entries. The allegations about the payments were first made in The New York Times on Monday.
Earlier this week, Trump brought in a new campaign chief executive and campaign manager following a disastrous stretch in which the New Yorker committed a series of errors and fell behind Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in both national and battleground state preference polls.
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The New York businessman brought Manafort into the campaign in March to organize the Republican nominating convention, including the prospect of a delegate challenge by “Never Trump” opponents. Manafort wound up running the campaign, but took criticism over continuing Republican opposition to Trump and complaints about the candidate’s lack of discipline and repeated attacks on GOP leaders. Manafort had said on several occasions he didn’t plan to be paid for his work for Trump.
