When Paul Manafort was brought up on federal criminal charges exactly seven years ago this week, Donald Trump did what he always does when someone close to him runs into trouble: He pretended to barely know Manafort.
Indeed, the Trump White House at the time described him as a random staffer “who played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time” on the Republican’s 2016 campaign.
It was, at the time, a difficult claim to take seriously. After all, Manafort did serve as the campaign chairman for Trump’s political operation, which is pretty much the opposite of playing “a very limited role.”
But seven years later, it appears the former president and his team have suddenly refreshed their memories about Manafort. The Washington Post reported overnight:
Former president Donald Trump is expected to enlist Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager he pardoned, as a campaign adviser later this year, according to four people familiar with the talks. The job discussions have largely centered around the 2024 Republican convention in Milwaukee in July and could include Manafort playing a role in fundraising for the presumptive GOP nominee’s campaign, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private deliberations.
According to the Post’s reporting, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, it’s now “expected” that Manafort will be hired, at least in part because the former president is “determined to bring Manafort back into the fold.”
I can appreciate why it might be difficult to keep up on all of the accused and convicted criminals on Trump’s team, and some readers might be asking, “Which one is Paul Manafort again?” But if the Post’s reporting is accurate, and Manafort is being welcomed back into the presumptive Republican nominee’s inner circle, it’s worth noting what makes this so extraordinary.
In 2016, Manafort oversaw Trump’s political operation before he was…
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