President Trump said Friday that Paul Manafort is “a very good person,” and said the government’s prosecution against his former campaign chief is “very sad.”
As he departed for a trip from the White House, the president, over the hum of his helicopter, told reporters he wouldn’t talk about Mr. Manafort’s ongoing trial — but said he considered the episode unfortunate.
He stressed that Mr. Manafort was only part of the campaign for “a very short time” — some five months in 2016 — but defended his former chairman.
“He happens to be a very good person and I think it’s very sad what they’ve done to Paul Manafort,” the president said.
Mr. Manafort faces two separate prosecutions brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating the Trump operation and Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
The first of those prosecutions, in a federal court in Alexandria, involves charges of bank and tax fraud stemming from Mr. Manafort’s political consulting business. The case is now with the jury. The other case, in D.C., involves charges of failing to report his work for foreign interests, including pro-Russian operations in Ukraine.
Mr. Trump repeated Friday his feeling that the Mueller probe is off the rails altogether — though he said the special counsel should be allowed to finish writing his report.
The president said Mr. Mueller has conflicts of interest and said if his report had integrity, it would be probing “the other side.” Mr. Trump has long contended there’s more evidence of nefarious dealings from the Democratic side of the 2016 campaign than his own operation.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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