US news media is reporting that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort has resigned effective today. This news follows an expose that Mr. Manafort, a long time Republican political consultant, may have been accepting stolen money from the Ukrainian government during his time as a consultant for the previous government.
According to reports Mr. Manafort’s name appeared in a secret ledger of suspicious expenditures in a Ukrainian corruption probe.
Mr. Trump stated today that “this morning Paul Manafort offered, and I accepted, his resignation from the campaign” according to CNN. He added “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.”
Earlier this week there were reports that Mr. Manafort was given a demotion within the campaign organization with the hiring of conservative media leader Stephen Bannon.
This is the second of Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman to resign the first being Corey Lewandowski, who was accused of aggressively touching a journalist, an allegation he denied.
