Paul Manafort Owns Up to Indirectly Advising Trump in 2020 But Kept Quiet in Hope of Pardon

Paul Manafort was indirectly advising Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, according to a new book, but kept the advice secret in the hopes of eventually receiving a presidential pardon. The disgraced former campaign manager—who was sentenced to seven years for tax fraud and other offenses—was in home confinement at the time after being released from prison in May 2020 as COVID caused havoc in the American penal system. It was while staying in an apartment in Virginia during the release that Manafort reconnected with Trump’s circle. “There was no contact with anyone in the Trump orbit when I was in prison,” he writes in his new memoir Political Prisoner: Persecuted, Prosecuted, but Not Silenced, according to The Guardian. “And I didn’t want any, especially if it could be exploited by [mainstream media]. But when the re-election campaign started kicking off, I was interacting, unofficially, with friends of mine who were very involved. It was killing me not to be there, but I was advising indirectly from my condo.” He also reportedly admits: “I didn’t want anything to get in the way of the president’s re-election or, importantly, a potential pardon.” Manafort was pardoned by Trump in December 2020.