Paul Manafort resigns from Trump campaign

The departure of Trump's embattled campaign chairman comes two days after the nominee shook up his leadership team.

By Nolan D. McCaskill, Alex Isenstadt and Shane Goldmacher

08/19/16 10:05 AM EDT

Updated 08/19/16 01:48 PM EDT
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Donald Trump’s campaign is still trembling from its shakeup this week.

Trump on Friday announced that campaign Chairman Paul Manafort had resigned, two days after the Republican nominee put in place a new leadership structure that appeared to minimize Manafort’s role.

Manafort had increasingly come under fire over his past lobbying work for pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarchs — which was fundamentally at odds with Trump’s boasts about being free from moneyed interests — and for the sloppy nature of the Republican National Convention, which Manafort oversaw.

“This morning Paul Manafort offered, and I accepted, his resignation from the campaign,” Trump said in a statement. “I am very appreciative for his great work in helping to get us where we are today, and in particular his work guiding us through the delegate and convention process. Paul is a true professional and I wish him the greatest success.”

In recent days, Manafort had lost the confidence of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and one of his closest advisers, and other members of Trump’s family, according to a source close to the campaign. Kushner had once been a major backer of Manafort and was instrumental in his elevation — and the downfall of Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager.

The family was particularly troubled by reports of Manafort's involvement with Russia and felt he hadn’t been entirely forthright about his activities overseas, the source said. Family members were also unhappy about changes made to the GOP platform that were seen as beneficial to Russia, which they felt Manafort played a role in, the source added.

Manafort was also wary about his increasing scrutiny becoming a distraction, according to a senior Trump aide, echoing a point one of Trump’s sons acknowledged Friday.

“I think my father didn’t want to be, you know, distracted by, you know, whatever things Paul was dealing with,” Eric Trump said, according to an excerpt of an interview set to air on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Eric Trump called Manafort’s work through the primary “amazing” and praised him for getting the campaign through the convention.

“Now you look at Kellyanne [Conway] and some of the other people that we’re bringing in, and they’re absolutely fantastic, and I think they’re going to be the ones that bring us all the way through November 8th and ultimately get us the victory,” Eric Trump continued. “But again, my father just didn’t want to have the distraction looming over the campaign and, quite frankly, looming over all the issues that Hillary’s facing right now.”

The departure could help consolidate the power of Conway, who was promoted earlier this week to campaign manager and is credited with urging Trump to offer “regret” for his past offensive comments, and Breitbart executive Stephen Bannon, who was brought on as campaign CEO.

But the news is also overshadowing Trump’s reboot. The Republican nominee made a presidential-style trip to flood-ravaged Louisiana on Friday with his running mate, Mike Pence, and the campaign rolled out its first television ads of the general election.
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And there are signs that the early shakeup may not have gone entirely smoothly. On Wednesday evening, according to two sources close to the campaign, Trump aides determined that their first TV ad would be focused on an economic message. But on early Thursday morning, the staff got word that the plans were changing. Instead, the commercial would have a tough-on-immigration message.

The move caught some aides by surprise and led them to believe that a small group of staffers — and perhaps Trump himself — had made the decision.

Some staffers said they were surprised by Manafort's exit and that they had learned of it from news reports. As of late Friday morning, there had been no staff conference call to inform them of the move.

Charlie Black, a longtime friend and business associate of Manafort's, said he didn't think the departure of a seasoned GOP operative would hinder the campaign's ability to function.

"Paul is my friend, but Paul has never managed a campaign before, either," he said. "Kellyanne is very good, very bright. I have confidence in her."

Lewandowski, who lost in a power struggle with Manafort, said the news showed that the Republican nominee is serious about his mission to win the White House.

“The most important thing is this is a reminder to me and to the American public that Donald Trump will do anything it takes to win,” Lewandowski said on CNN, where he is a paid contributor.

Although Manafort is out, his longtime deputy, Rick Gates, will take over as the Trump campaign's liaison to the Republican National Committee, senior communications adviser Jason Miller tweeted Friday afternoon.

Hillary Clinton's campaign seized on Manafort's departure as a chance to hammer Trump for his repeated overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which they have characterized as dangerous. "You can get rid of Manafort, but that doesn't end the odd bromance Trump has with Putin," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement.
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Manafort joined Trump’s operation in late March to lead its delegate effort ahead of the convention. His hire came just as Trump was in the midst of one of the roughest stretches of the primary, as Ted Cruz was playing the inside political game to win delegate contests and some key states, including Wisconsin.

Manafort, an elder statesman on a campaign that had lacked such a figure, soon won the trust of Trump as a political fixer, particularly among the party elites. He traveled to the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting in April pressing Trump’s case and insisting he would evolve as the nominee.

But leaked audio from the meeting, in which Manafort said Trump was simply playing “a part,” damaged his fresh relationship with Trump just as he was tussling internally for power with Lewandowski, whose motto was “Let Trump be Trump.”

By late May, Manafort was clearly on the rise, as he had been promoted to campaign chairman and became a key coordinator with the Republican National Committee after Trump became the presumptive nominee.

For the next month, Manafort and Lewandowski butted heads — over hiring, strategy and credit for Trump’s success. Tensions were so bad that there were reports of fears that the Trump headquarters was bugged. “Do I believe it? No, I don’t believe it,” Manafort said on ABC in late May, adding, “But I don’t know who said that.”

In late June, following a meeting with his adult children, Trump fired Lewandowski, and Manafort emerged as the main power center on the campaign. Despite his persistence, Manafort failed to convert the bombastic political outsider into the kind of presidential candidate Republican leaders had been wanting to see.

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But as Trump’s standing has sunk in national and battleground state polls, his unhappiness has been reflecting back on staff, including Manafort. At the Republican National Convention, when it was discovered that Trump's wife, Melania, had plagiarized portions of her speech, Lewandowski seized on the chance to poke at his old rival, saying on CNN “the buck stopped with me” when he ran the campaign.

“I think if it was Paul Manafort, he’d do the right thing and resign,” Lewandowski said.

Manafort’s past work had also become increasingly problematic, especially because the optics of it were similar to the Clintons' extensive work with foreign governments through the Clinton Foundation, which Trump has regularly attacked.

The liability deepened when The New York Times reported this week that Manafort’s name appeared on a handwritten ledger in Ukraine for secret cash payments. POLITICO reported on Thursday that Manafort’s closeness to a Russian Army-trained linguist-turned-Ukrainian political operative was raising questions and concerns.

Manafort’s departure came just two days after Trump’s aides tried to present the leadership changes as an expansion rather than a shakeup.

"No one's out," Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson had told CNN. "When you shake up your campaign, that usually means someone is out."