Paul Manafort leaves Republican convention role after controversy

Paul Manafort has left his unpaid role advising party officials at the Republican convention.

The veteran political consultant, 75, had recently returned to offer his expertise to the convention, according toThe New York Times, and was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last week for planning meetings. A Washington Post story also reported on Friday that he was involved in work connected to foreign officials and businesses.

His time in the Republican convention role was short-lived.

“As a longtime, staunch supporter of President Trump and given my nearly 50 years experience in managing presidential conventions, I was offering my advice and suggestions to the Trump campaign on the upcoming convention in a volunteer capacity,” Manafort told The New York Times in a statement provided by the Trump campaign.

“However, it is clear that the media wants to use me as a distraction to try and harm President Trump and his campaign by recycling old news,” he added.

“And I won’t let the media do that. So, I will stick to the sidelines and support President Trump every other way I can.”

Manafort helped elect and re-elect numerous presidents during his decades-long career in politics, from Richard Nixon and George HW Bush to Donald Trump.

But he has also served as a prolific lobbyist for foreign politicians including Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, and Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian former president of Ukraine.

In October 2017, he was indicted on multiple charges related to the concealment of millions of dollars he had made from lobbying for pro-Russian politicians, including the former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.

Additional charges of obstruction of justice and witness tampering were