Paul Manafort: New York Times Report ‘Unfounded, Silly, and Nonsensical’

Paul Manafort, campaign chairman and chief strategist to the Donald Trump presidential campaign, released the following statement to reporters in response to a New York Times story published Monday.

Once again The New York Times has chosen to purposefully ignore facts and professional journalism to fit their political agenda, choosing to attack my character and reputation rather than present an honest report.

The simplest answer is the truth: I am a campaign professional.  It is well known that I do work in the United States and have done work on overseas campaigns as well.  I have never received a single “off-the-books cash payment” as falsely “reported” by The New York Times, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia. Further, all of the political payments directed to me were for my entire political team: campaign staff (local and international), polling and research, election integrity and television advertising.  The suggestion that I accepted cash payments is unfounded, silly and nonsensical.

My work in Ukraine ceased following the country’s parliamentary elections in October 2014. In addition, as the article points out hesitantly, every government official interviewed states I have done nothing wrong, and there is no evidence of “cash payments” made to me by any official in Ukraine. However, the Times does fail to disclose the fact that the Clinton Foundation has taken (and may still take) payments in exchange for favors from Hillary Clinton while serving as Secretary of State. This is not discussed despite the overwhelming evidence in emails that Hillary Clinton attempted to cover up.