--- title: Donald Trump Aide Denies Ukraine Payments Report description: Donald Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort denied a report that political leaders in Ukraine earmarked millions in cash for him. canonical: https://time.com/4452164/donald-trump-paul-manafort-ukraine/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-15T12:59:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T04:10:07.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump's Campaign Chief Slams Report on Ukraine Payments og:description: "Unfounded, silly, and nonsensical" og:url: https://time.com/4452164/donald-trump-paul-manafort-ukraine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd520ea900176dc18/6988a25b8e0601214246724d/gettyimages-524993070.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: GOP Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Gives Foreign Policy Address In DC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump's Campaign Chief Slams Report on Ukraine Payments twitter:description: "Unfounded, silly, and nonsensical" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd520ea900176dc18/6988a25b8e0601214246724d/gettyimages-524993070.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump's Campaign Chief Slams Report on Ukraine Payments > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=4dff39da-aaa2-4cd9-af00-2da011d0aecc&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump's Meltdown [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump's Meltdown](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZnrBU8IB.m3u8) (2:50)  _Published 2016-08-10. Following his acceptance of the presidential nomination for the Republican party, Donald Trump has made a number of political gaffes._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:10 AM UTCPublished: Aug 15, 2016 12:59 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:10 AM UTCPublished: Aug 15, 2016 12:59 PM UTC Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort [denied](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/paul-manafort-ukraine-payment-new-york-times-227004#ixzz4HOoM5iUd) [a New York _Times_ report](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us/politics/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html?%5Fr=1) that political leaders in Ukraine earmarked millions in undisclosed cash for him. The _Times_ reported that the political party of Ukraine’s pro-Russian former president Viktor Yanukovych set aside $12.7 million in undisclosed payments for the campaign operative. Manafort responded to the report in a [statement sent to NBC News](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/paul-manafort-ukraine-payment-new-york-times-227004#ixzz4HOoM5iUd) on Monday, calling it “unfounded, silly and nonsensical.” “I have never received a single ‘off-the-books cash payment’ as falsely ‘reported’ by the New York _Times_ nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia,” Manafort said, adding that any payments he did receive overseas were for his entire political team. “This suggestion that I accepted cash payments is unfounded, silly, and nonsensical.” The [_Times_ report](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us/politics/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html?%5Fr=1) said anti-corruption officials are investigating the earmarked payments, which were recorded on a secret ledger, though they have not determined whether or not Manafort actually received any cash. Manafort said his work in Ukraine ended after the 2014 parliamentary elections. The Hillary Clinton campaign has also responded to the report, saying the report raises questions about the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. “Given the pro-Putin policy stances adopted by Donald Trump and the recent Russian government hacking and disclosure of Democratic Party records, Donald Trump has a responsibility to disclose campaign chair Paul Manafort’s and all other campaign employees’ and advisers’ ties to Russia and pro-Kremlin entities,” the [statement reads](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cp5z6hnWcAEx3pV.jpg). [Read the _Times_ story here](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us/politics/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html?%5Fr=1) ## Transcript I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States. Why did Hillary get rid of her middle name? Hillary, no but why did she get rid of it? Hillary Rotten Clinton. She'll go home, she'll take a nap for four or five hours, then she'll come back. No naps for Trump! No nap! I don't take naps! Her running mate, Tim Kaine, who by the way did a terrible job in New Jersey, first act he did in New Jersey. Was asked for a $ 4 billion tax increase and he was not very popular in New Jersey. If you look at his wife she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. But he made a deal with the devil. She's the devil. He made a deal with the devil. Thousands of people outside, thousands, that were turned away by For political reasons. Purely for political reasons. Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the second amendment. By the way and if she get's to pick, if she get's to pick Her judges, nothing you can do folks. [ APPLAUSE ] Although the second amendment people maybe there is I don't know. [ APPLAUSE ] But I tell you what that will be a horrible day. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4452164/donald-trump-paul-manafort-ukraine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4452164/donald-trump-paul-manafort-ukraine/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Campaign Chief Slams Report on Ukraine Payments","datePublished":"2016-08-15T12:59:25.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T04:10:07.000Z","description":"\"Unfounded, silly, and nonsensical\"","url":"https://time.com/4452164/donald-trump-paul-manafort-ukraine/","keywords":["2016 Election","Ukraine","russia","2016 Election","2016","Election 2016","Donald Trump","Paul Manafort"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd520ea900176dc18/6988a25b8e0601214246724d/gettyimages-524993070.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd520ea900176dc18/6988a25b8e0601214246724d/gettyimages-524993070.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GOP Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Gives Foreign Policy Address In DC","caption":"GOP Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Gives Foreign Policy Address In DC","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—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/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4452164/donald-trump-paul-manafort-ukraine/","name":"Donald Trump's Campaign Chief Slams Report on Ukraine Payments"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Donald Trump's Meltdown","description":"Following his acceptance of the presidential nomination for the Republican party, Donald Trump has made a number of political gaffes.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ZnrBU8IB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-08-10T19:41:07.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZnrBU8IB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4452164/donald-trump-paul-manafort-ukraine/","duration":"PT2M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4452164/donald-trump-paul-manafort-ukraine/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```