In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort made it clear that in his view all was well in the Trump camp. Despite repeated media attacks on the candidate, it was “an improving week,” Mr. Manafort told “America’s Newsroom” on Friday.
“The Republican Party is united. Do we agree on everything? No. You know, Mr. Trump is an outsider. He hasn’t been a part of the political system so his relationships with the leadership of the party are not as deep and long as traditionally it would be with the Republican nominee. But that’s not to say he doesn’t have good relations,” he continued.
Mr. Manafort also predicted “a coming together” between the nominee and GOP leadership in the House and Senate.
“They all agree on one thing. We need a Republican president and a Republican Congress. And then we’ll make the changes that America needs.”
Mr. Manafort also pushed back on President Obama’s reaction to Mr. Trump’s concern that the 2016 was rigged. The president called the concern “ridiculous” and dismissed it.
“For someone whose career got jumpstarted by the Chicago machine I was surprised to hear him say that.,” Mr. Manafort observed. “If you rely on the Justice Department to ensure the security of elections, we have to be worried.”
The campaign guru also criticized Mr. Obama’s insistence that Mr. Trump should act more presidential on the campaign trail.
“Well, we certainly are not using him as a role model. I mean, here is a president who is going around the world apologizing for everything the United States has done over the last 100 years. Here is a president who has taken the economy, and contrary to Mrs. Clinton, doesn’t deserve an ’A’ for what he’s done,” Mr. Manafort said.
“He’s destabilized the world with the foreign policy he constructed with Hillary Clinton that put our enemies in positions of strength and our allies in positions of weakness. He’s changed the whole role of the United States as a leader in the world. So when he says that Donald Trump needs to start acting like a president, he doesn’t recognize the fact that he’s the wrong —Obama — he’s the wrong role model.”
See the interview here
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.