The pardoned ex-lobbyist could be given a fundraising role for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, sources have claimed
FILE PHOTO: Donald Trump, his then-campaign manager Paul Manafort, and his daughter Ivanka Trump in July 2016. © Brooks Kraft / Getty Images
Donald Trump could hire former lobbyist Paul Manafort for his presidential election campaign, sources have told the Washington Post. Manafort was convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion in 2018 after being linked to the ‘Russiagate’ saga, before being pardoned by Trump as he was leaving office.
Citing anonymous sources, the newspaper reported on Monday that presumptive Republican nominee Trump appreciates Manafort’s personal loyalty and intends to entrust him with raising funds for his bid for a White House return in November’s election.
The move, however, “would likely revive discussion of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election,” the Post claimed. Manafort formerly served as chairman of Trump’s 2016 campaign before being dismissed over allegations of illegal lobbying.
He had spent years as a Republican operative before becoming a lobbyist for foreign clients. Manafort was later accused of neglecting to register as foreign agent and fraudulently hiding profits from the US tax authorities.
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Manafort emerged as a key target for attacks on the Trump campaign in 2016 due to the fact that Viktor Yanukovich, the Ukrainian president ousted in 2014 in the US-backed armed coup in Kiev, had been among his clients.
Western media widely described Yanukovich as “pro-Russian” due to his voter base in the predominantly ethnic-Russian eastern part of Ukraine and his reluctance to integrate with the EU at the expense of tariff-free trade with Moscow.
Yanukovich employed Manafort’s services to improve his government’s standing with the West. The American engaged the bipartisan lobbying apparatus in Washington, working with major firms such as the Podesta Group, which is closely linked to the Democrats. Co-founder John Podesta had a senior position in Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
Manafort came to the attention of special counsel Robert Mueller, who was charged with investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential vote. While the probe failed to produce charges against Trump for supposedly colluding with Moscow, Manafort’s conviction was played up by media hostile to the then-president as circumstantial evidence that such a link existed.
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Trump pardoned Manafort in December 2020, just as his term in office was about to end. The Republican publicly praised his “brave” former campaign staffer in an interview in 2018, comparing him favorably to another ex-associate, long-time personal lawyer Michael Cohen. The same month, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations related to payouts to adult film actress Stormy Daniels over an alleged affair she had with Trump.
