--- ---  # Donald Trump's Campaign Chairman Says Trump Has No Financial Relationship With Russia by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Jul 27, 2016 1:49 PM UTC  Trump campaign convention manager Paul Manafort appears on "Face The Nation" May 1 in Washington. Trump campaign convention manager Paul Manafort appears on "Face The Nation" May 1 in Washington.CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Jul 27, 2016 1:49 PM UTC Paul Manafort, chairman for Donald Trump’s campaign, said on CBS “This Morning” Wednesday that Trump has [no financial relationship with Russia](http://time.com/4368534/dnc-democratic-national-committee-hack-russia-donald-trump/?iid=sr-link1), calling the claim “an absurd attempt by the Clinton campaign to get the focus off what the real issue is” — Hillary Clinton’s [private email server. ](http://time.com/4025741/hillary-clinton-sorry-private-email-server/?iid=sr-link1) _This Morning_ Co-Anchor Norah O’Donnell asked Manafort if Trump would be willing to release his taxes to be more transparent on any financial relationships he may have. Manafort said that Trump has said he will not be releasing his taxes, as they’re under audit, adding that he believes Trump has no financial relationship with Russian oligarchs. “We have no relationship,” Manafort said. Manafort’s comments [follow Democratic Party officials saying in June that Russian government hackers](http://time.com/4368534/dnc-democratic-national-committee-hack-russia-donald-trump/?iid=sr-link1) had broken into the Democratic National Committee’s computer network, leading them to opposition research on Donald Trump, as well as email correspondence and chat information. WikiLeaks leaked email [correspondence between DNC staffers ](http://time.com/4425876/julian-assange-dnc-email-democratic-convention/)last week that s[howed attempts to undermine Bernie Sanders’ campaign](http://time.com/4421045/debbie-wasserman-schultz-dnc-chair-resign-convention/), leading to DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s resignation ahead of the Democratic National Convention. Following the leak, Clinton campaign manager, Robby Mook, called the leak “disturbing” on CNN’s “State of the Union” and said he didn’t believe it to be coincidental. The FBI has launched an [investigation into the hack](http://time.com/4421844/fbi-dnc-email-hack-investigation/). > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/758071952498159616) Trump has accepted funding for [real estate projects from Russians in the past and held a beauty pageant in Moscow in 2013](http://time.com/4422379/russian-hack-democratic-convention-putin/?iid=sr-link1). Paul Manafort: Donald Trump No Russian Financial Relations ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4425903/donald-trump-russia-financial-relationship/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4425903/donald-trump-russia-financial-relationship/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Campaign Chairman Says Trump Has No Financial Relationship With Russia","datePublished":"2016-07-27T13:49:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:34:48.651Z","description":"'We have no relationship'","url":"https://time.com/4425903/donald-trump-russia-financial-relationship/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Hillary Clinton","russia","WikiLeaks","Democratic National Convention","Elections 2016"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b500412de898b63/69889fa70a4a22a0729caa8f/paul_manafort_trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Emma Ockerman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b500412de898b63/69889fa70a4a22a0729caa8f/paul_manafort_trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CBS's \"Face The Nation\" - 2016","caption":"CBS's \"Face The Nation\" - 2016","creditText":"CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4425903/donald-trump-russia-financial-relationship/","name":"Donald Trump's Campaign Chairman Says Trump Has No Financial Relationship With Russia"}}]}] ```