Paul Manafort, the 2016 campaign chairman who was pardoned by former President Donald Trump, may be returning to the party and helping a Republican candidate win the White House in 2024, according to multiple reports.
Mr. Manafort, 74, is being considered by the Trump campaign to support the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, perhaps as part of a fundraising effort. First reported by the Washington Post.
Talks between Mr. Manafort and the Trump campaign continued for several months. According to the New York TimesOne source suggested the potential role of the longtime Republican aide and lobbyist is limited and does not signal an attempt to shake up the former president’s current campaign staff. .
A final decision on whether to bring Manafort back to the Trump campaign has not yet been made.
Manafort managed President Trump’s campaign from May to August 2016.
He resigned under pressure weeks before the general election following reports of business dealings with pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians.
In October 2017, Manafort and his former business partner Rick Gates faced the first charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Mueller said Manafort also allegedly shared internal campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, an alleged Russian intelligence agent, and later lied to the FBI about his interactions with the Russian.
Manafort was convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion and sentenced to more than seven years in prison in 2019.
At the time, President Trump described Manafort as a “good man” and said he felt “very sick.”
The longtime lobbyist was imprisoned from June 2018 to May 2020, then released after serving his sentence under house arrest amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Trump, 77, commuted Manafort’s sentence in July 2020 and pardoned him before leaving office in December of the same year.
The Trump campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
