Trump campaign chairman and man of dubious loyalty Paul Manafort resigned from his position this morning even though he assured staffers that he would continue to be an integral part of the campaign as recently as yesterday morning.
From the Associated Press:
Manafort's resignation comes a day after The Associated Press reported that confidential emails from Manafort's firm contradicted his claims that he had never lobbied on behalf of Ukrainian political figures in the U.S.
Emails between Manafort's deputy, Rick Gates, also a top Trump adviser, and the lobbying firm Mercury LLC showed that Manafort's firm directly orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine's then-ruling political party.
Several different explanations for Manafort's departure have already been offered by various sources from infamous lunatic Roger Stone to other anonymous staffers. Some say he resigned because he didn't want to be a distraction. Some say he resigned because he was concerned more of his ties to pro-Russian propagandists would be exposed. Others say he was essentially forced out of the campaign by Trump himself.
It could have been all of the above.
It should be noted that Rick Gates has not resigned as of this writing and he's just as tied to Russia as Paul Manafort is. Given Trump's own affinity for Vladimir Putin, I'm inclined to believe that Manafort's ties had less to do with his departure than the hiring of Breitbart chairman Stephen Bannon did.
With Paul Manafort out of the picture, it's full steam ahead with the Breitbart campaign.