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Paul Manafort Quits Donald Trump’s Campaign After Tumultuous Run Paul Manafort Quits Donald Trump’s Campaign After a Tumultuous Run
(about 3 hours later)
Paul Manafort, installed to run Donald J. Trump’s operation after the firing of his original campaign manager, handed in his resignation on Friday. It was the latest tumult for a candidate whose standing in the polls has steadily dropped since the Republican Party’s convention in July. Paul Manafort, a professional Republican political operative since the 1970s, was supposed to impose order on Donald J. Trump’s chaotic presidential campaign.
Mr. Manafort left nearly a week after a New York Times report about problems within the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign helped precipitate a leadership shake-up. His departure reflects repeated efforts to steady a campaign that has been frequently roiled by the unpredictable behavior of its tempestuous first-time candidate. On Friday, the chaos devoured him.
Mr. Manafort was also dogged by reports about secretive efforts he made to help the former pro-Russian government in Ukraine, where he has worked on and off over several years. Those news reports were blotting out much of the news coverage of the candidate this week. And they contributed to Mr. Manafort becoming viewed with trepidation by Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and a major force within the campaign, particularly after a number of false starts since the Republican National Convention, according to three people briefed on the matter. Weeks of sliding poll numbers and false starts had sapped Mr. Manafort’s credibility inside the campaign. A cooling relationship with Mr. Trump — who had taken to calling Mr. Manafort “low energy,” the epithet he once used to mock a former rival, Jeb Bush — turned hot last weekend when the candidate erupted, blaming Mr. Manafort for a damaging newspaper article detailing the campaign’s internal travails, according to three people briefed on the episode.
“This morning Paul Manafort offered, and I accepted, his resignation from the campaign,” Mr. 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.” Then a wave of reports about Mr. Manafort’s own business dealings with Russia-aligned leaders in Ukraine, involving allegations of millions of dollars in cash payments and secret lobbying efforts in the United States, threw a spotlight on a glaring vulnerability for Mr. Trump: his admiration for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
Mr. Manafort, a veteran strategist who had managed Republican nominating conventions in the past, was hired by the campaign in late March, as Mr. Trump was facing a protracted delegate fight in his effort to capture the Republican nomination. When he joined the campaign, he was seen as a peer to Mr. Trump, 70, and someone whose advice Mr. Trump might heed. In fact, Mr. Manafort had pushed for the selection of Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, as Mr. Trump’s running mate. By Friday morning, Mr. Manafort’s predictions to confidants that he might not be able to survive in his post had come true.
But until this week, the role of campaign manager had remained empty since the June ouster of Corey Lewandowski, who played into Mr. Trump’s most aggressive instincts and with whom the candidate had a level of chemistry that he never forged with Mr. Manafort, according to several advisers who witnessed them interact. Mr. Trump has continued to seek out the advice of Mr. Lewandowski, a fierce rival of Mr. Manafort, since the aide’s departure from the campaign. “This morning Paul Manafort offered, and I accepted, his resignation from the campaign,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “I am very appreciative for his great work in helping to get us where we are today.”
Since the convention in Cleveland, Mr. Trump has engaged in a series of self-defeating battles, including belittling the mother of a Muslim soldier who was killed in Iraq and threatening to withhold an endorsement from Speaker Paul D. Ryan. Aides have tried a range of efforts to rein in his impulses, including adding different travel companions. In fact, Mr. Manafort did not go voluntarily. “My father just didn’t want to have the distraction looming over the campaign,” Eric Trump, the candidate’s second son, explained in a Fox News interview.
Mr. Manafort ended up taking over the campaign two months ago after Mr. Lewandowski was fired when he became a distraction to the candidate over a string of high-profile fights. In a twist, Mr. Manafort’s ouster came after a week in which Mr. Trump had taken several steps toward the kind of normalized candidacy that Mr. Manafort had been striving for: The Republican nominee gave three speeches in which he generally stuck to a script; he mostly attacked Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, while refraining from berating other Republicans; and, on Friday, he began running his first television advertisements.
Jason Miller, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, wrote on Twitter Friday afternoon that Rick Gates, Mr. Manafort’s deputy, would leave New York for Washington, where he would serve as “the campaign’s liaison to the R.N.C.” Mr. Manafort’s friends said privately that he had urged core staff members whom he brought on to stay on the campaign. The timing of Mr. Manafort’s departure largely overshadowed the news Thursday night when the candidate, who has long spurned apologies, announced at a rally that he actually regretted some of the more offensive things he has said — though without specifying which. And on Friday, Mr. Trump toured flood-ravaged areas of Baton Rouge, La., even as his aides were confirming Mr. Manafort’s exit.
Last weekend, Mr. Trump decided to install Stephen K. Bannon as his chief executive and Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser, as the new campaign manager. That followed an emergency meeting called after the Times article last weekend on the frequent and stymied efforts by Mr. Trump’s top advisers to curtail his pugilistic instincts. Roger Ailes, the recently departed Fox News chairman, was present in New Jersey as the hastily called campaign meeting took place, and he is expected to play a role behind the scenes, including discussing debates with Mr. Trump. Mr. Manafort, 67, who had managed national Republican conventions in the past, was hired in late March, as Mr. Trump was facing a pitched battle to amass the number of delegates needed to capture the party’s nomination. He was seen as a peer to Mr. Trump, 70, and as someone whose advice Mr. Trump might heed. He ended up taking the helm of the campaign when Corey Lewandowski, Mr. Trump’s previous campaign manager, was fired after repeatedly clashing with the candidate’s children.
The announced staff moves were widely seen as a step toward sidelining Mr. Manafort, but he and other Trump officials initially said that he would remain with the campaign. Mr. Manafort helped defeat the “never Trump” movement within the Republican Party, opened lines of communication with party leaders in Washington and crushed a brief but noisy delegate uprising on the floor of the Republican convention in Cleveland on its first day. He also successfully pushed for the selection of Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana as Mr. Trump’s running mate.
But it remains to be seen who will step into the role of chief strategist for the final 11 weeks of a campaign that hasn’t held a poll lead since before the Republican convention, although his new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was seen as the likeliest choice. But Mr. Trump never developed the sort of chemistry or comfort level with Mr. Manafort that he had with Mr. Lewandowski, campaign aides said. Mr. Trump has continued to seek out the advice of Mr. Lewandowski, who remains a fierce rival of Mr. Manafort.
After a primary season in which crucial organizational elements were left untended, the campaign is still struggling to ramp up against the operational behemoth of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Nor did Mr. Trump ever quite buy into what Mr. Manafort was selling.
Mr. Manafort is the second top Trump aide to be eased out in the last two months. Mr. Trump’s first campaign manager, Mr. Lewandowski, was dismissed in June after he repeatedly clashed with the candidate’s children and failed to prepare for a delegate slog against hardened opposition within the Republican Party. Just as Mr. Trump has resisted behaving like a traditional presidential candidate, he has also felt little need to construct the sort of hierarchical organization typical of a campaign for the White House. This is in part, Mr. Trump’s advisers say, because he relies on his instincts and the counsel of his family. But it is also because he simply prefers to improvise, unconstrained by convention or by a chain of command.
Mr. Trump’s aides wanted to put out word of Mr. Manafort’s resignation on Friday morning, before the candidate landed in flood-ravaged Louisiana. But even after releasing a statement, by noon, as Mr. Trump toured Baton Rouge, his campaign had not held a conference call with staff members to inform them of the change. A change in the leadership of his campaign may not stop Mr. Trump from making abrupt decisions based on news coverage, playing advisers off one another and following the guidance of whoever may be traveling with him or has just spoken to him on the phone.
The latest turmoil comes as Mr. Trump has been trying to reset his campaign after a disastrous stretch in which he committed a series of self-inflicted wounds. The often-improvisational candidate has given three speeches this week in which he largely followed a script, began airing his first television ads on Friday and has mostly targeted Mrs. Clinton while refraining from attacking other Republicans. Mr. Trump, who has long resisted apologizing for any misstep, even said in a speech on Thursday night that he regretted some of comments he had made. But what Mr. Trump loses in Mr. Manafort is somebody who has had decades of experience in campaigns and relationships in the party that made him a useful ambassador for a candidate who lacks both, and is given to angering fellow Republicans.
But Mr. Trump’s renewed effort to impose a measure of professionalism on his campaign was obscured by a near-daily stream of stories detailing Mr. Manafort’s compensation from and advocacy for Viktor Yanukovych, the former Ukranian president and ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Jason Miller, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, wrote on Twitter on Friday that Rick Gates, Mr. Manafort’s deputy, would leave New York for Washington, where he would serve as “the campaign’s liaison to the R.N.C.”
It had become clear to Mr. Manafort last weekend, as Mr. Trump excoriated him over a Times story describing the candidate’s and campaign’s dysfunction, that the pending stories about his work in Ukraine would make remaining on difficult, according to three people briefed on this thinking at the time. But it remains to be seen who will step into Mr. Manafort’s role of chief strategist for the final 11 weeks until Election Day.
Mr. Trump was informed about the latest reporting — an Associated Press article citing emails that showed Mr. Manafort’s firm had orchestrated a pro-Ukrainian Washington lobbying campaign without registering as a foreign agent — in North Carolina on Thursday night. That was enough to prompt Mr. Trump to telephone Mr. Bannon and suggest it was time for Mr. Manafort to go, according to a Republican briefed on the exchange. Mr. Manafort’s exit came as Mr. Trump had been trying to reboot his campaign after a disastrous stretch in which he committed a series of self-inflicted wounds — belittling the mother of a Muslim soldier who was killed in Iraq and threatening to withhold an endorsement from House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, a fellow Republican. Aides have tried a range of efforts to rein in Mr. Trump’s impulses. But they have been unsuccessful in taming his propensity to respond sharply to media coverage of his campaign.
It was an article in The New York Times last weekend — about frequent but frustrated efforts by Mr. Trump’s top advisers to curtail his pugilistic instincts — that set off the series of events leading to Mr. Manafort’s departure.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump raged at Mr. Manafort, holding him responsible for the article. On Sunday, Mr. Trump hastily convened a meeting of paid and unpaid advisers including the pollster Kellyanne Conway; Roger Ailes, the ousted Fox News chairman; and Stephen K. Bannon, the chairman of Breitbart News, a conservative website. Mr. Manafort was not present.
Mr. Ailes urged Mr. Trump to reconfigure the campaign’s leadership, according to a Republican briefed on the meeting. A former Republican strategist and ad man who was friends with Mr. Trump long before his ouster, Mr. Ailes had reviewed some of the initial television commercials Mr. Manafort had overseen and told Mr. Trump in blunt terms that they were lackluster.
Only on Tuesday, the eve of its announcement, was Mr. Manafort informed of the campaign’s impending shake-up: Ms. Conway would become campaign manager, and Mr. Bannon would become the campaign’s chief executive.
At the same time, the new accounts of Mr. Manafort’s ties to Ukraine quickly eroded the support that he had from Mr. Trump’s family during his earlier battles with Mr. Lewandowski.
Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, grew increasingly concerned after a Times article published on Sunday about allegations of cash payments made to Mr. Manafort’s firm for his work on behalf of his main client, Viktor F. Yanukovych, the former Ukranian president, who is an ally of Mr. Putin.
Mrs. Clinton’s campaign has repeatedly sought to yoke Mr. Trump to Mr. Putin, citing Mr. Trump’s praise for the Russian leader. And the avalanche of stories about his work for pro-Russian entities in Ukraine were becoming untenable for the campaign, according to people briefed on the discussions.
“The easiest way for Trump to sidestep the whole Ukraine story is for Manafort not to be there,” said Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who has become a counselor to Mr. Trump.“The easiest way for Trump to sidestep the whole Ukraine story is for Manafort not to be there,” said Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who has become a counselor to Mr. Trump.
Yet Mr. Trump’s dissatisfaction with Mr. Manafort began before the drumbeat of stories about the operative’s Ukranian work, with the Times account, published online last Saturday, of the candidate’s struggles to remain on message despite repeated interventions from advisers and allies. In North Carolina on Thursday, Mr. Trump was informed of the newest such report: an Associated Press article that, citing emails, showed that Mr. Manafort’s firm had orchestrated a pro-Ukrainian lobbying campaign in Washington without registering as a foreign agent.
The next day, Mr. Trump met with Mr. Ailes in Bedminster, N.J., and Mr. Ailes urged him to shake up the campaign, according to a Republican briefed on the meeting. Mr. Ailes, a former Republican strategist and ad man who has become a trusted adviser to Mr. Trump since his ouster, had reviewed some of the initial television commercials Mr. Manafort had overseen and told Mr. Trump in blunt terms that they were lackluster. That was enough, according to people briefed on the calls, for Mr. Trump to call Mr. Bannon and Ms. Conway.
Thomas Barrack, a financier and friend of Mr. Trump who helped bring Mr. Manafort into the campaign, expressed regret about the turn of events involving Mr. Manafort. He had the same message for each: It was time for Mr. Manafort to go.
“I’ve known him since we were in college, he’s a first-class person, he’s an amazing individual and he has been the lead architect in trying to seamlessly put together the institutional side of this campaign,” Mr. Barrack said in an interview. “I think the architecture he put together will continue to serve the campaign well, but I’m sorry to see him go.”
After he was hired by Mr. Trump, Mr. Manafort helped quash uprisings among Republican delegates that, even if they wouldn’t imperil Mr. Trump’s ability to get the nomination, would have been an embarrassing distraction at the convention.
In an interview with Fox News, Eric Trump, the candidate’s second-oldest son, appeared to acknowledge that Mr. Manafort did not entirely leave on his own.
“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,” Eric Trump said.