Hillary Clinton’s campaign made it clear on Sunday that just because Paul Manafort has stepped down as Donald Trump’s campaign manager, that doesn’t mean they will be letting up in their efforts to tie the Republican candidate to Russian interests. In what looked to be at least partly a way to dodge questions about the Clinton Foundation, Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook essentially accused Donald Trump of being a Kremlin puppet. Mook said on ABC News’ This Week that there are still “real questions” about Trump’s connections to Moscow, even after Manafort’s departure.
“Paul Manafort has been pushed out, but that doesn’t mean that the Russians have been pushed out of this campaign,” Mook said. “The hand of the Kremlin has been at work in this campaign for some time.”
Clinton’s campaign manager went on to say that it was time for Trump “to explain to us the extent to which the hand of the Kremlin is at the core of his own campaign.” These are all questions that could be answered if the Republican candidate were more transparent about his finances. “There’s a web of financial interests that have not been disclosed,” he said. “And there are real questions being raised about whether Donald Trump himself is just a puppet for the Kremlin in this race?”
Mook’s questions about Trump’s continuing ties with Russia follow the same line as the DNC, which issued a statement calling attention to similar questions after Manafort’s resignation on Friday:
Despite today’s latest staff shake-up, Donald Trump’s campaign still maintains strong ties to Russia and pro-Kremlin elements. At least a half-dozen of Trump’s remaining aides have Russian connections, and let’s not forget about his own financial interests in the region, as well as his repeated praise for Putin.
Rather than clear up the issue, Trump’s campaign has chosen to respond to the questioning about his Russia ties by pointing the finger at Clinton, saying the media are ignoring her links to Russia. “Clinton’s close ties to Putin deserve scrutiny,” reads the headline of an Aug. 15 news release. Still, many of Trump’s claims failed to tell the full story, particularly because it failed to point out that many of the reports mentioned in Trump’s attack were written during Clinton’s stint as secretary of state.
