When Paul Manafort was brought up on federal criminal charges exactly seven years ago this week, Donald Trump did what he always does when someone close to him runs into trouble: He pretended to barely know Manafort.
Indeed, the Trump White House at the time described him as a random staffer “who played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time” on the Republican’s 2016 campaign.
It was, at the time, a difficult claim to take seriously. After all, Manafort did serve as the campaign chairman for Trump’s political operation, which is pretty much the opposite of playing “a very limited role.”
But seven years later, it appears the former president and his team have suddenly refreshed their memories about Manafort. The Washington Post reported overnight:
Former president Donald Trump is expected to enlist Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager he pardoned, as a campaign adviser later this year, according to four people familiar with the talks. The job discussions have largely centered around the 2024 Republican convention in Milwaukee in July and could include Manafort playing a role in fundraising for the presumptive GOP nominee’s campaign, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private deliberations.
According to the Post’s reporting, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, it’s now “expected” that Manafort will be hired, at least in part because the former president is “determined to bring Manafort back into the fold.”
I can appreciate why it might be difficult to keep up on all of the accused and convicted criminals on Trump’s team, and some readers might be asking, “Which one is Paul Manafort again?” But if the Post’s reporting is accurate, and Manafort is being welcomed back into the presumptive Republican nominee’s inner circle, it’s worth noting what makes this so extraordinary.
In 2016, Manafort oversaw Trump’s political operation before he was convicted of a variety of felonies, including tax fraud and bank fraud. He even served some time in federal prison — right up until Trump pardoned him shortly before Christmas 2020, rewarding his former aide for failing to cooperate with law enforcement.
Just as notably, the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Manafort “represented a grave counterintelligence threat” in 2016 due to his relationship with a Russian intelligence officer.
“The Committee found that Manafort’s presence on the Campaign and proximity to Trump created opportunities for Russian intelligence services to exert influence over, and acquire confidential information on, the Trump campaign,” the Senate report added.
When the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report literally pointed to a “direct tie between senior Trump Campaign officials and the Russian intelligence services,” it was referring in part to Manafort “directly and indirectly” communicating with an accused Russian intelligence officer, a Russian oligarch, and several pro-Russian oligarchs in Ukraine. Even after receiving an indefensible pardon from Trump, Manafort’s troubles did not disappear. Two years ago this week — around the time he announced that he was getting back into the consulting business — Manafort was removed from a plane at Miami International Airport before it departed for Dubai because he was carrying a revoked passport. A month later, NBC News reported the Justice Department was again targeting Manafort over allegations that he “failed to report interest in foreign bank accounts.” As for why Trump might be “determined to bring Manafort back into the fold,” despite this recent history, I am eagerly looking forward to hearing the explanation. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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