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Paul Manafort's role on Team Trump faces new scrutiny

Paul Manafort, a central figure in the Russia scandal, ran Donald Trump's campaign for months, without pay. Why was he so eager to be part of the team?
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign chair and convention manager Paul Manafort appears at a press conference at the Republican Convention on July 19, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign chair and convention manager Paul Manafort appears at a press conference at the Republican Convention on July 19, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.
By Steve Benen, Steve Benen

On Feb. 29, 2016, Mr. Manafort, the former lobbyist and Republican operative who now sits at the nexus of investigations into Russia's meddling in the presidential election, reached out to Mr. Trump with a slick, carefully calibrated offer that appealed to the candidate's need for professional guidance, thirst for political payback -- and parsimony.The letters and memos provide a telling glimpse into how Mr. Trump invited an enigmatic international fixer, who is currently under investigation by United States intelligence services, a Senate committee and investigators in Ukraine, to the apex of his campaign with a minimum of vetting. The answer? Through family and friends, handshakes and hyperbole.

Neither Trump nor any one on his team sought out Manafort -- the two were not close before the race -- and it was the lobbyist who reached out to the campaign, seeking a role.Manafort impressed Trump, in part by emphasizing his home in Trump Tower, and in part by emphasizing his willingness to work for free.What's still unclear is why Manafort was so eager to climb aboard the Trump train in the first place. TPM's Josh Marshall had a good piece on this:

So why did Manafort get hired? That's a very good question. The upshot of the [New York Times'] story, though it doesn't say so directly, is that there's no clear explanation at all. The go between, according to Thrush's article, was Tom Barrack, a mutual friend who seems like a surprisingly normal figure for the Trump world. Who knows whether there's a story there? The key thing seems to be that Manafort really, really wanted the gig. And he was willing to do it for free, even though there's nothing in Manafort's history that suggests any interest in doing anything for free ever.Why was Manafort so focused on getting in with Trump?

In mid-August, a month after Trump officially became the Republican nominee, Manafort resigned following reports that he helped a pro-Russian party in Ukraine secretly route payments to two prominent D.C. lobbying firms.Manafort, of course, was also under a contract -- of undetermined length -- in which he worked to "greatly benefit the Putin Government."