Trump considering bringing back Manafort – WaPo

The pardoned ex-lobbyist may be given a fundraising role for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, sources have claimed

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.

He could be given a role in Trump’s bid for reelection in November’s presidential vote, four people told the Post on condition of anonymity. Manafort formerly served as chairman of Trump’s 2016 campaign before being dismissed after facing allegations of illegal lobbying.

The presumed GOP nominee appreciates Manafort’s personal loyalty and intends to entrust him with raising funds, the outlet said on Monday. The expected move “would likely revive discussion of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election,” the Post claimed.

Manafort spent years as a Republican operative before moving to the international arena as a lobbyist for foreign clients. He was later convicted of neglecting to register as foreign agent and fraudulently hiding his profits from the US tax authorities.

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He 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, was 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 the Hillary Clinton campaign of 2016.

Manafort came to the attention of US special counsel Robert Muller, who was charged with investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 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.