--- ---  # Watch Paul Manafort Repeatedly Deny Connections with Russia by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Mar 22, 2017 7:13 PM UTC  Paul Manafort walks the floor at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 21, 2016. Paul Manafort walks the floor at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 21, 2016.The Washington Post—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Mar 22, 2017 7:13 PM UTC An [Associated Press report](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/122ae0b5848345faa88108a03de40c5a/manaforts-plan-greatly-benefit-putin-government%20%29) on Wednesday described documents showing former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort orchestrated a secret plan to benefit [Vladimir Putin’s](http://fortune.com/2017/01/28/donald-trump-call-vladimir-putin/) Russian government in the United States and Europe. The report, which is not the first to link [Manafort to either Russia or Ukraine](http://time.com/4459066/paul-manafort-donald-trump-campaign/), appear to directly contradict what Manafort has said in the past about any connections. “That’s absurd,” Manafort said when ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked if he had any ties to Putin in July of 2016. That wasn’t the only time he disavowed the claim. Watch the video above for all of the times Manafort has directly denied any connection or involvement. Paul Manafort: Watch Him Deny Connections With Russia ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4709579/paul-manafort-russia-connections-denial/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4709579/paul-manafort-russia-connections-denial/"},"headline":"Watch Paul Manafort Repeatedly Deny Connections with Russia","datePublished":"2017-03-22T19:13:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:58:42.972Z","description":"\"That's absurd\"","url":"https://time.com/4709579/paul-manafort-russia-connections-denial/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Ukraine","russia","White House","onetime","Paul Manafort"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd9b4c9781d8cb23c/6988bf70656a3f772ebcf3e9/paul-manafort1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd9b4c9781d8cb23c/6988bf70656a3f772ebcf3e9/paul-manafort1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort w","caption":"CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort w","creditText":"The Washington Post—The Washington Post/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/4709579/paul-manafort-russia-connections-denial/","name":"Watch Paul Manafort Repeatedly Deny Connections with Russia"}}]}] ```