CBS News on Monday reported that the Republican National Committee and Doug Manchester, President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas, possibly engaged in a pay-to-play scheme before his nomination was withdrawn.
CBS News chief investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod found in uncovered emails that the RNC asked Manchester, a billionaire real estate developer from San Diego, to donate $500,000 while he awaited confirmation by the Senate, which had been stalled for two and a half years.
In September, Manchester visited the Bahamas after the islands were hit by Hurricane Dorian. Trump tweeted at the time: "I would also like to thank 'Papa' Doug Manchester, hopefully the next Ambassador to the Bahamas, for the incredible amount of time, money, and passion he has spent on helping to bring safety to the Bahamas."
Three days after Trump's tweet, Manchester received an email from RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, which was later obtained by CBS.
"Would you consider putting together $500,000 worth of contributions from your family to ensure we hit our ambitious fundraising goal?" McDaniel wrote.
"As you know I am not supposed to do any, but my wife is sending a contribution for $100,000," Manchester responded in an email. "Assuming I get voted out of the [Foreign Relations Committee] on Wednesday to the floor we need you to have the majority leader bring it to a majority vote … Once confirmed, I our [sic] family will respond!"
When Axelrod told Manchester, "you know what this looks like," Manchester said, "Well — it looks like it to you. But it's not the facts. My wife gave out of separate funds and she in fact loves Donald Trump."
The RNC told CBS in a statement on Monday: "The Chairwoman did not suggest to Mr. Manchester in any way that it would more quickly advance his confirmation if members of his family made a political contribution."
The committee added that "Mr. Manchester's decision to link future contributions to an official action was totally inappropriate" and said it has cut ties with him and returned the money to his family.
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