Donald Trump’s recently hired campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said Friday that Paul Manafort — the previous campaign manager who had been moved to the position of chairman — “was asked” to resign from the campaign. She later added that his abrupt departure “was a mutual decision.”
“He was asked and he indeed tendered his resignation today and Mr. Trump accepted his resignation and wished him well and thanked him for his service,” Conway told WABC Radio’s Rita Cosby, who followed up by asking whether it was Trump’s or Manafort’s decision that he leave.
“I think it was a mutual decision to be frank with you. The conversations which I participated in, it was a mutual and a very mutually respectful decision,” Conway said.
The campaign announced Manafort’s resignation Friday morning, amidst slagging polling for the GOP nominee, as well as increased scrutiny on Manafort’s past work for Ukrainian politicians with Russian-ties.
