During their private meetings with Donald Trump last week, congressional Republican leaders did not tell the presumptive GOP nominee to act more presidential, Trump campaign adviser Paul Manafort told CNN Sunday morning.
“Donald Trump was not asked to change,” Manafort said. “There’s no reason for him to change.”
Manafort claimed that Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., had a productive conversation in which the rivals to lead the GOP agreed on many policy issues.
“There was a lot of overlap on both of those agendas,” Manafort said referring to Trump’s “make America great again” slogan and Ryan’s plan for advancing Republican principles.
Manafort also denied that Trump’s rhetoric and demeanor is alienating women.
“This is one of those conventional wisdom” facts that just isn’t true, Manafort claimed before conceding “it is an issue; it will be dealt with.”
Manafort also said Trump will keep his promise to release his taxes as soon as an ongoing audit by the Internal Revenue Service is complete.
“He will release his taxes,” Manafort promised. He said releasing previous years’ returns would not prove illustrative of the self-proclaimed billionaire’s finances because the audit stretches back eight years.
No good accountant would advise a client to release his returns under those circumstances, Manafort said.
Manafort also dismissed the latest Trump controversy that the real estate mogul has pretended to be a publicist, calling himself both John Miller and John Barron in previous conversations with reporters.
“I couldn’t tell who it is,” Manafort said after being played a clip of recently surfaced recordings between a People Magazine reporter and someone claiming to be a public relations professional representing Trump.
Trump has denied assuming such false identities and Manafort said he has no reason to not take Trump at his word.
