Paul Manafort

Paul Manafort
Born Paul John Manafort Jr.
(1949-04-01) April 1, 1949
New Britain, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma mater Georgetown University
Political party Republican

Paul John Manafort, Jr.[1] is an American lobbyist and political consultant. He was an adviser to the presidential campaigns of Republicans Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush, John McCain, and is currently employed by the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, as well as being a senior partner in the firm Davis, Manafort and Freedman. He is also known for his successful efforts lobbying on behalf of Ferdinand Marcos, Jonas Savimbi, Viktor Yanukovych and other foreign leaders, which led his firm to be listed amongst the top five lobbying on behalf of human-rights abusers.

Early life and education

Manafort was born in New Britain, Connecticut, on April 1, 1949.[2] He graduated from Georgetown University in 1971 with a B.S. and a B.A., and from Georgetown University Law School in 1974 with a J.D. His grandfather James Manafort immigrated to the USA from Italy in 1919. His father, Paul J. Manafort Sr. served with the Army combat engineers in World War II and was mayor of New Britain.

Career

Between 1977 and 1980, Manafort was an attorney with the firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Washington, D.C.

In 1985, he was a director of Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.

Political activities

In 1976, Manafort was the delegate-hunt coordinator for eight states for the President Ford Committee; the overall Ford delegate operation was run by James A. Baker III.[3] Between 1978 and 1980, Manafort was the southern coordinator for Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign, and the deputy political director at the Republican National Committee. After Reagan's election in November 1980, he was appointed Associate Director of the Presidential Personnel Office at the White House. In 1981 he was nominated to the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Manafort was an adviser to the presidential campaigns of George H.W. Bush in 1988,[4] Robert Dole in 1996,[5] George W. Bush, and John McCain. In March 2016 he joined the presidential campaign of Donald Trump to lead Trump's "delegate-corralling" efforts.[6] In April 2016, Manafort gained control of an expanded $20 million budget, hiring decisions, advertising, and media strategy.[7]

Lobbying career

Manafort was founding partner of Washington, DC-based lobbying powerhouse Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly. In 1996 he left BMSK to join Richard H. Davis in forming Davis, Manafort.

Association with Jonas Savimbi

In 1985, Manafort accepted $600,000 yearly from Jonas Savimbi, the Maoist leader of the Angolan rebel group UNITA, to refurbish his image in Washington and secure financial support on the basis of his anti-communism. Throwing events at the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation and Freedom House, Savimbi was praised as a freedom fighter by Jeanne Kirkpatrick, and went on to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid. Allegedly, Manafort's continuing lobbying efforts helped preserve the flow of money to Savimbi several years after the Soviet Union ceased its involvement in the Angolan conflict, forestalling peace talks.[8]

Lobbying for other Foreign Rulers

Manafort accepted $900,000 yearly to lobby for Ferdinand Marcos. He was also involved in lobbying for Siad Barre of Somalia, and Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo. His firm also lobbied on behalf of the governments of the Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya (between $660-750,000 yearly 1991 and 1993), and Nigeria ($1 million in 1991). These activities led Manafort's firm to be listed amongst the top five lobbying firms receiving money from human-rights abusing regimes in the report "The Torturer's Lobby."[9]

Involvement in the Karachi Affair

Manafort wrote the campaign strategy for Edouard Balladur in the 1994 elections, and admitted to having been paid under the table[10] (at least $200,000). The money was transferred to him through his friend, Lebanese arms-dealer Abdul Rahman al-Assir, from middle-men fees paid for arranging the sale of three French Agosta class submarines to Pakistan, in a scandal known as the Karachi Affair.[11]

Association with Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence Agency

Manafort received $700,000 from the Kashmiri American Council between 1990 and 1994, supposedly to promote the plight of the Kashmiri people. However, an FBI investigation revealed the money was actually from Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency as part of a "false flag" operation to divert attention from terrorism. A former Pakistani ISI official claimed Manafort was aware of the nature of the operation.[12] While producing a documentary as part of the deal, Manafort interviewed several Indian officials while pretending to be a CNN reporter.[13]

HUD scandal

In the late 1980s, Manafort was criticized for using his connections at HUD to ensure funding for a $43 million rehabilitation of dilapidated housing in Seabrook, N.J.[14] Manafort's firm received a $326,000 fee for its work in getting HUD approval of the grant largely through personal influence with Deborah Gore Dean, an executive assistant to former HUD Secretary Samuel R. Pierce Jr. [15]

Lobbying for Viktor Yanukovych

He also worked as an adviser on the Ukrainian presidential campaign of Viktor Yanukovych[16] even as the U.S. government (and McCain) opposed Yanukovych because of his ties to Russia's Vladimir Putin.[5] Manafort was hired to advise Yanukovych months after massive street demonstrations known as the Orange Revolution overturned Yanukovych's victory in the 2004 presidential race. [17] Borys Kolesnikov, Yanukovich’s campaign manager, said the party hired Manafort after identifying organizational and other problems in the 2004 elections, in which it was advised by Russian strategists. [16] Manafort rebuffed U.S. Ambassador William Taylor when the latter complained he was undermining U.S. interests in Ukraine.[18]

In 2010, under Manafort's tutelage, the opposition leader put the Orange Revolution on trial, campaigning against its leaders' management of a weak economy. Returns from the presidential election gave Yanukovych a narrow win over Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a leader of the 2004 demonstrations. Yanukovych owes his comeback in Ukraine's presidential election to a drastic makeover of his political persona and, people in his party say, that makeover was engineered in part by his American consultant, Manafort.[16]

According to a 2008 U.S. Justice Department annual report, Manafort’s company received $63,750 from Yanukovych's Party of Regions over a six-month period ending on March 31, 2008, for consulting services.[19]

References

  1. ↑ Paul Manafort, Sr., Jan. 25, 2013, Hartford Courant
  2. ↑ Nomination of Paul J. Manafort, Jr., To Be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, May 13, 1981 in John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database)
  3. ↑ Peters, Jeremy W. (April 18, 2016). "Potential G.O.P. Convention Fight Puts Older Hands in Sudden Demand". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  4. ↑ Savransky, Rebecca (March 28, 2016). "Trump hires strategist Paul Manafort". TheHill. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  5. 1 2 Mosk, Matthew (June 26, 2008). "Top McCain Adviser Has Found Success Mixing Money, Politics". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  6. ↑ Burns, Alexander; Haberman, Maggie (March 28, 2016). "Donald Trump Hires Paul Manafort to Lead Delegate Effort". The New York Times - First Draft. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  7. ↑ Sherman, Gabriel (April 19, 2016). "How Paul Manafort Took Over the Trump Campaign". New York Magazine. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  8. ↑ Foer, Franklin. "The Quiet American". Slate.com. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  9. ↑ Brogan, Pamela. The Torturer's Lobby (PDF). Washington DC: The Center for Public Integrity. p. 7. ISBN 0-9629012-9-6. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  10. ↑ "US Consultant Admits Role in Karachi Affair". France24. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Foer, Franklin. "The Quiet American". Slate.com. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  12. ↑ Isikoff, Michael. "Top Trujp aide lobbied for Pakistani spy front". Yahoo.com. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  13. ↑ Drinkard, Jim (12/04/1994). "Public-Relations Ethics Questioned as Some Agents Pose as Journalists : Information: Deception violates PR code, but critics say it's common nonetheless.". Associated Press. Retrieved 29 April 2016. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ↑ Michael Riley Where Were the Media on HUD?, Time Magazine July 24, 1989
  15. ↑ Eaton, William J. (June 21, 1989). "GOP Consultant Admits Using Influence to Obtain HUD Grant but Defends Action". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  16. 1 2 3 Levy, Clifford J. (September 30, 2007). "Ukrainian Prime Minister Reinvents Himself". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  17. ↑ Boudreaux, Richard (February 9, 2010). "Candidates Sought Guidance From American Consultants". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  18. ↑ Foer, Franklin. "The Quiet American". Slate.com. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  19. ↑ "Paid advisers descend on candidates, nation". Kyiv Post. November 24, 2009. Archived from the original on November 24, 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2016.

External links

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