Ex-Trump aide Paul Manafort in talks to help with GOP nominee’s presidential campaign: reports
Former President Donald Trump’s pardoned 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort could return to the fold and assist with the GOP nominee’s 2024 White House bid, according to multiple reports.
Manafort, 74, is being considered by the Trump campaign to potentially assist with the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, possibly in a fundraising capacity, the Washington Post first reported.
Talks between Manafort and Trump’s team have gone on for months, according to the New York Times, with one source indicating that any potential role for the longtime Republican aide and lobbyist would be limited and not indicative of an attempt to shake-up the former president’s current campaign staff.
A final decision on whether Manafort is brought back onboard the Trump campaign has not been made.
Manafort helmed Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign from May to August in 2016.
He resigned under pressure, weeks before the general election, after reports emerged of his business dealings with pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians.
In October 2017, Manafort and his former business partner Rick Gates were the first to face charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Manafort also allegedly shared internal campaign polling data with alleged Russian intelligence agent Konstantin Kilimnik, and later lied to the FBI about his interactions with the Russian national, according to Mueller.
Manafort was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in 2019 after being convicted of bank and tax fraud.
Trump said at the time that he felt “very badly” for Manafort, whom he called a “good man.”
The longtime lobbyist was jailed from June 2018 until May 2020, when he was released to serve his sentence under home confinement amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump, 77, commuted Manafort’s sentence in July 2020 and pardoned him before leaving office in December of that year.
The Trump campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
