Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Former President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
"Manafort will fit right in with the C-Team of election deniers, conspiracy theorists, and absolute weirdos that make up Donald Trump’s MAGA takeover of the GOP," the organization said in a separate statement earlier this week. "This latest report just confirms that Trump’s soft on crime approach for the violent insurrections who stormed the Capitol on January 6 extends to tax cheats and fraudsters as well."
"Given the RNC’s desperate financial state, we can’t imagine what could go wrong with hiring a convicted con man like Manafort to help run a multimillion-dollar convention," it added, referencing the DNC's vast money advantage over the Republican National Committee (RNC), which began the election year seriously lagging in cash on hand.
The DNC's mention of a push for pardons for people convicted on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol protests is in reference to attorney Joseph McBride, who represents multiple Jan. 6 defendants, calling in a report by Semafor for the "January 6 movement to have a presence" at the convention.
Donald Trump, flanked by campaign manager Paul Manafort and daughter Ivanka, checks the podium early Thursday afternoon in preparation for accepting the GOP nomination to be President at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on Wednesday July 20, 2016. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
After Trump's election, he was swept up in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian collusion, which ultimately led to the financial crimes charges against him. He was pardoned by Trump in 2020.
The reports that Manafort could help with the convention come just over a week after Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee for president with victories in the Mississippi, Georgia and Washington primaries.
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A week earlier, former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel stepped down from her role, and was replaced by staunch Trump ally Michael Whatley. Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was elected as Whatley's co-chair, solidifying the former president's hold on party leadership and infrastructure.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Manafort, the Trump campaign and the RNC for comment.
Brandon Gillespie is an associate editor at Fox News. Follow him on X at @BGillespieAL.
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