Trouble Right Here In Trump City - Breitbart Exec Takes The Reins Of Trump Campaign In 2nd Shakeup

Stephen Bannon

Shakeups in political campaigns never mean things are going great.

So take the news that Stephen Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, becoming the new Trump campaign chief executive as a red flag.

We've heard rumblings that Trump's crew couldn't reign the Trumpster in, and we've also read numerous reports of the Donald resisting his approach to the campaign trail singing the classic, "I gotta be me."

Cue the new team.

From the New York Times:

Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, will become the Republican campaign’s chief executive, and Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser and pollster for Mr. Trump and his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, will become the campaign manager.

Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman, will retain his title. But the staffing change, hammered out on Sunday and set to be formally announced Wednesday morning, was seen by some as a demotion for Mr. Manafort.

Conway told reporters Wednesday morning that the moves weren't so much a "shakeup" as they are an "expansion" for this phase of the general election.

In related news, more stories continue to dog Paul Manafort about his financial connections and payments of unreported millions to Washington lobbying firms.

Donald Trump’s campaign chairman helped a pro-Russian governing party in Ukraine secretly route at least $2.2 million in payments to two prominent Washington lobbying firms in 2012, and did so in a way that effectively obscured the foreign political party’s efforts to influence U.S. policy.

The revelation, provided to The Associated Press by people directly knowledgeable about the effort, comes at a time when Trump has faced criticism for his friendly overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin. It also casts new light on the business practices of campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Under federal law, U.S. lobbyists must declare publicly if they represent foreign leaders or their political parties and provide detailed reports about their actions to the Justice Department. A violation is a felony and can result in up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.