Currently, Mr. Manafort is an attorney and founding partner of DMP International, LLC where he has been active in business and international affairs for the last 20 years. Previously, he was a partner at BMS&K for 15 years and worked on dozens of international political campaigns in an effort to bring democratic expertise to foreign countries. He served as a director of OPIC following his appointment by President Reagan, and was on the Investment Policy Advisory Committee at the Office of the US Trade Representative.

Mr. Trump stated, “Paul is a great asset and an important addition as we consolidate the tremendous support we have received in the primaries and caucuses, garnering millions more votes than any other candidate. Paul Manafort, and the team I am building, bring the needed skill sets to ensure that the will of the Republican voters, not the Washington political establishment, determines who will be the nominee for the Republican Party.

Trump Announces Major Campaign Hires, 8/17/16

...Kellyanne Conway, ...has been promoted to Campaign Manager. Paul Manafort will remain as Campaign Chairman and Chief Strategist.

As an aside, how desperate was Trump for a new campaign manager in August, 2016 that he settled on Ms. Most Unimportant Person in the World?

Trump first announced her hiring on July 1, 2016, as a advisor to Paul Manafort.

Kellyanne will serve as senior advisor to the campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and a member of the national polling team being led by Tony Fabrizio.

On July 16, she moved up to an "advisor" to the campaign, primarily assigned to Pence. In announcing six such advisers, Trump wrote:

These Advisors will be tasked with o organizing the day to day operations for Governor Pence, and interacting with the existing Trump Campaign team

A month later, on August 17, as Manafort had one foot out the door (or was already out, according to Ms. C. who has said Trump offered her the campaign manager job on August 12 in a private conversation), he promoted her to campaign manager but insisted Manafort would stay on.

..... Kellyanne Conway.... has been promoted to Campaign Manager. Paul Manafort will remain as Campaign Chairman and Chief Strategist.

....Ms. Conway... will work on messaging and travel frequently with Mr. Trump, while working closely with Mr. Bannon and Mr. Manafort on all aspects of the campaign moving forward. (my emphasis)

In six weeks, she went from hired as an advisor to Manafort to Trump's campaign manager. Why? Did no one else want the job? Until July, she was supporting and financially contributing to Ted Cruz' campaign. (So was her husband, although he "thanked" Trump for hiring his wife with his first Trump donation on July 18.)

Two days later, on August 19, Manafort was officially out. (How embarrassing for the campaign which had maintained two days earlier he was staying. One hand surely didn't know what the other was doing.)

Reports at the time said Jared Kushner had a lot to do with Manafort's ouster.

In recent days, Manafort had lost the confidence of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and one of his closest advisers, and other members of Trump’s family, according to a source close to the campaign. Kushner had once been a major backer of Manafort and was instrumental in his elevation — and the downfall of Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager.

Here's the AP report on Manafort's Russian ties. Here's Mother Jones on Manafort and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. (Interestingly, in 2009, Putin takes Derispaska to task publicly embarrassing him (he's almost bankrupted but later recovers.)

In March, 2014, longtime Trump former advisor and former Manafort business partner Roger Stone (also said to have been under investigation for Russia ties which he denies having) had questions for Manafort and then Ukranian presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych (later elected, overthrown and now wanted in the Ukraine on corruption charges).

On Monday, as Russian gunships menaced the Ukrainian fleet in the Black Sea, Manafort’s former business partner Roger Stone sent out an email to a small group of friends asking wryly: “Where is Paul Manafort?”

A multiple-choice list of options followed, including: “Was seen chauffeuring Yanukovych around Moscow,” and “Was seen loading gold bullion on an Army Transport plane from a remote airstrip outside Kiev and taking off seconds before a mob arrived at the site.” The final option was: “Is playing Golf in Palm Beach.”

The New Yorker in October, 2016 on Manafort and Conway:

In March, Trump hired Paul Manafort, a Republican lobbyist who was a partner in the firm Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly. His job was to make sure that Republican delegates would not be able to stage a coup against Trump at the Convention. The end for Lewandowski came when Manafort and Kushner allied against him. “When Manafort was brought on, Corey and Manafort basically went head to head,” the Trump campaign official said. “Jared, the son-in-law, who is a snaky little motherf**ker, a horrible human being, hated Corey, so Jared sided with Paul to get rid of Corey.”

Manafort became the campaign chairman in May, and took full control when, a month later, Lewandowski was fired. But Manafort turned out to be too blunt to get Trump to do his bidding. “You have to know how to influence Trump’s thinking, and that takes a mix of diplomacy and psychiatry,” the Trump adviser told me. Manafort, he claimed, had “no chemistry with Donald.....”

By early August, Manafort was further weakened, by scandals related to political work that he had done in Ukraine. After the Times reported that he might have received millions of dollars in cash payments from a party aligned with Vladimir Putin, there was open speculation about how long he could keep his job. “When the Ukraine stuff comes to pass, Jared now is holding the axe over Paul’s head,” the campaign official said. The Trump adviser added, “The real campaign manager, in fact, the entire time, has been Jared Kushner, who is still the real campaign manager, even today.”

...In August, the Mercers recommended that Trump bring in Bannon to lead a reorganized effort. “I’ve never run a campaign,” Bannon told Trump. “I’d only do this if Kellyanne came in as my partner.” Conway said that Trump offered her the job of campaign manager on August 12th, in a private meeting in his office.

On Manafort's partner as her mentor:

Conway found mentors in political fixers such as Charlie Black, a partner in Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly. To Conway, the firm’s principals, who worked for Reagan and George H. W. Bush, “were the untouchables. They were the gold standard of lobbying, Capitol Hill access.” Early in her career, Conway was invited to Black, Manafort, Stone’s Christmas party, and, she said, “it was, like, ‘What am I gonna wear?’ It was like Cinderella.”

Something else I learned from the New Yorker article - How Ms. Most Unimportant Person in the World met Trump: She and her husband lived at Trump Tower for several years, before moving to their $6 million home in Alpine, NJ.

In 2001, the Conways bought an apartment in Trump World Tower, near the United Nations, where they lived for seven years, and where she got to know Trump. “I sat on the condo board, and he’s very involved in his condos,” she said. ....In 2008, the Conways moved to a six-million-dollar home in Alpine, New Jersey, a town that Forbes has called “America’s most expensive Zip Code.”

Coincidentally, Conway's husband George represented Hewlett-Packard when it was the subject of a civil RICO (racketeering) complaint in the Northern District of California concerning bribery of Russian officials. The Plaintiffs were Petróleos Mexicanos (“Petróleos Mexicanos”) and Pemex Exploración y Producción (“PEP”). Here's one of his briefs in the case, urging dismissal. This is not to suggest he did anything wrong in representing HP, just that he is familiar with allegations of bribery and corruption between Russian officials and U.S. companies. He's worth mentioning because Trump is about to name him as head of DOJ's civil division and he clearly has experience defending against civil allegations of improper conduct with Russia (and Poland and Mexico.)

Here's the SEC cease and desist order, with HP's offer of settlement in anticipation of the institution of legal proceedings, in which it acknowledged HP overseas entities had bribed Russian officials. The order describes what HP did wrong with Russia and Poland and Mexico. DOJ also explained what happened in this press release issued when HP Russia pleaded guilty to criminal charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and was given a big fine. (HP Poland and HP Mexico entered non-prosecution agreements.)

"Hewlett-Packard subsidiaries, co-conspirators or intermediaries created a slush fund for bribe payments, set up an intricate web of shell companies and bank accounts to launder money, employed two sets of books to track bribe recipients, and used anonymous email accounts and prepaid mobile telephones to arrange covert meetings to hand over bags of cash," said Justice Department Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz in a statement."

According to the plea agreement, HP Russia executives created a multimillion dollar secret slush fund, at least part of which was used to bribe Russian government officials who awarded the company a contract valued at more than € 35 million.

At the conclusion of the plea proceeding, the court sentenced HP Russia to pay a $58,772,250 fine.

...“In a brazen violation of the FCPA, Hewlett Packard’s Russia subsidiary used millions of dollars in bribes from a secret slush fund to secure a lucrative government contract,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Miller. “Even more troubling was that the government contract up for sale was with Russia’s top prosecutor’s office. Tech companies, like all companies, must compete on a level playing field, not resort to secret books and sham transactions to hide millions of dollars in bribes. The Criminal Division has been at the forefront of this fight because when corruption takes hold overseas, American companies and the rule of law are harmed. Today’s conviction and sentencing are important steps in our ongoing efforts to hold accountable those who corrupt the international marketplace.”

Carly Fiorina was CEO of HP during some of the time period of the Russian bribery scheme. She was forced out of Hewlett Packard in 2005 and received a $21 million severance payment.She denied knowing anything about this. Both Conways were big supporters of Ted Cruz, who nominated Fiorina as his VP candidate.

There's also Trump legal counsel Michael Cohen who has ties to the Ukraine. From the UK Independent:

Mr Cohen is understood to have an extensive network of personal and business relationships in the Ukranian-American community – and his associates included Mr Oronov, a partner in the ethanol business the lawyer’s brother, Bryan, set up in Ukraine.

The “peace plan” meeting brought together Mr Artemenko, Mr Cohen and Felix Sater, an American-Russian long-time business associate of Mr Trump who is reported to have ties to the Russian mafia.

Details of this meeting are believed to have ended up on the desk of Michael Flynn, Mr Trump’s former security adviser who was forced to resign last month over his alleged secret dealings with Russian officials.

The New York Times had more.

Mr. Cohen, 50, lives two blocks up the street, in Trump Park Avenue. A lawyer who joined the Trump Organization in 2007 as special counsel, he has worked on many deals, including a Trump-branded tower in the republic of Georgia and a short-lived mixed martial arts venture starring a Russian fighter. He is considered a loyal lieutenant whom Mr. Trump trusts to fix difficult problems.

...He is married to a Ukrainian woman and once worked with relatives there to establish an ethanol business.

Here's the Moscow Times on Manafort and the Ukrainians. Here's the Washington Post (reprinted in The Star.)

I'm not even bothering with Michael Flynn, who in my view, is the poster boy for Donald Trump's bad judgment.

The more connections between Trump campaign officials and Russia the worse it will get for Trump. Remember in July, 2016 when he announced the formation of the Lying Crooked Hillary Website? I hope someone does the same for him and it all comes back to bite him in his as*, just like in the poem about the snake he liked to read on the campaign trail.

The Wall St Journal in an editorial today compared his falsehoods to those of an alcoholic, and said "Trump’s falsehoods are eroding public trust, at home and abroad." The editorial talked about the damage he is doing to his administration "with his seemingly endless stream of exaggerations, evidence-free accusations, implausible denials and other falsehoods." It said he sticks to false assertions (like his wiretapping claim) "like a drunk to his empty gin bottle."

Two months into his [term], Gallup has Mr Trump’s approval rating at 39 per cent. No doubt Mr Trump considers that fake news, but if he doesn’t show more respect for the truth most Americans may conclude he’s a fake President.

In my view, most Americans with an ounce of common sense concluded that on November 8.

Maybe someone will also create a website for stupid things Trump's children say. Today's entry: Donald Trump, Jr. botches quote by the Mayor of London.