Donald Trump’s delegate-wrangler, Paul Manafort, said Thursday that his famously self-funded candidate may accept checks from big donors in a general election race.
“He hasn’t made any decisions yet,” Manafort told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham in an interview flagged by Buzzfeed. “He has basically said, ‘I am only running my campaign right now, I’m not taking money from anybody, and I’m not going to take any money from anybody.’ Whether, how he will participate, in a broader context is yet to be determined.”
Trump has funded his primary race with $25 million of his own money, as well as some $9.5 million in smaller donations. The GOP frontrunner frequently brings up his decision to eschew funding from super PACs and wealthy GOP donors, characterizing his opponents “puppets” in thrall to the special interests who fund their campaigns.
“Well the point is that Donald Trump has been making on the campaign trail is that he’s financing his own campaign,” Manafort told Ingraham. “That’s very important for him to say now in his mind because he wants people to know that he owes nobody anything other than the American people, or the voters who are picking, choosing his candidacy.”
Manafort argued that stance does not prohibit a pivot in the general election, though.
“When it comes to the general election, we are no longer running as an individual, we are running as the head of a ticket,” he continued. “And so the party itself will be doing some things to raise money, and Mr. Trump has indicated that he’d be willing to help the party. But as far as he himself is concerned—but his point is he wants to make sure that he’s not beholden to anyone but the American people.”
Trump signaled during a Republican presidential debate in March that he was open to raising money for the Republican Party if he was nominated, but days later he told reporters that he did not intend to be the beneficiary.
“I’m not looking for funds for myself,” he told the Associated Press at the time.
Listen below:
