Trump/Manafort Russia Connection

Defining the Relationship. Since asking Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton’s emails last week (turns out he didn’t have to ask), Trump’s connection to Putin has been back in the spotlight. Over the weekend, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Trump denied having any relationship with Putin, despite having said in 2013, 2014, and 2015 that he did. Watch the video. In the same interview, he defended his character saying, “I have one of the great temperaments… I have a temperament where I know how to win” and promised that Putin wouldn’t invade Ukraine—apparently not realizing that has already happened. And he’s not the only one saying that.

There’s more. Trump and Putin’s relationship status isn’t the only reason the campaign’s ties to Russia are in the news. Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort has a long history with Russia and Ukraine (as well as other troubling foreign leaders). In fact, Manafort was the top outside political strategist for Ukraine’s former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. This weekend, Manafort denied that the Trump campaign gutted the Republican Party platform's anti-Russian stanceon the Ukraine. Not everyone remembers it that way. For the full Manafort/Trump/Russia/Ukraine story, read this.