President Donald Trump dropped former campaign manager Paul Manafort due to “potential conflicts” with “certain nations,” according to an interview set to be released Sunday morning.
Manafort took over Trump’s campaign in May 2016 but was forced out after three months amid scrutiny over his nearly decades-long work as a consultant to Ukraine’s Party of Regions and former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
He was indicted last Monday by a federal grand jury for tax crimes, money laundering, conspiracy and lying to the FBI, the first indictment handed down by special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government as part of the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump tells Sheryl Attkisson on “Full Measure” that Manafort staying on could have likely compromised the campaign.
"Well, I think we found out something about he may be involved with all – with certain nations, and I don't even know exactly what it was in particular. But there was a point at which we just felt Paul would be better off – because we don't want to have many potential conflicts."
Trump also says he doesn’t plan on firing Mueller despite calling the investigation a “witch hunt.”
"Well, I hope he's treating everything fairly, and if he is, I'm going to be very happy, because when you talk about innocent, I am truly not involved in any collusion with Russia," Trump said. "Believe me, that's the last thing I can think of to be involved in."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.