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Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort arrives for his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on June 27, 2019 in New York.
CNN
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Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman who was later pardoned, will step down from his role at the Republican National Convention following media scrutiny and questions about his involvement in the planning process, officials said. Two people revealed.
CNN earlier reported that Manafort was in talks with Trump’s team to support the convention in Milwaukee.
In a statement to the New York Times, Manafort said he was providing “advice and suggestions” to the Trump campaign regarding the Republican National Convention.
Manafort said, “As a long-time and avid supporter of President Trump, and with nearly 50 years of experience in organizing presidential conventions, I volunteered to provide advice and suggestions to the Trump campaign regarding the upcoming convention.” ” he said.
“But it’s clear that the media wants to use me as a distraction to try to harm President Trump and his campaign by recycling old news, and I’m not going to let the media do that.” , I will be on the sidelines and support President Trump in every way I can,” he continued.
Trump campaign officials confirmed his resignation.
Manafort’s resignation from his support role comes after The Washington Post reported that he was helping launch a Chinese streaming platform.
Manafort served nearly two years of a seven-and-a-half year sentence for bank fraud and tax evasion fraud, illegal foreign lobbying and conspiracy to bribe a witness, before being released in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. He spent the remainder of his sentence in confinement at home. For his forgiveness.
