Paul Manafort Bio
Paul John Manafort Jr. (born April 1, 1949) is an American former lobbyist, political consultant, and attorney whose career spanned more than four decades in Republican politics and international consulting. He served as chairman of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign from June to August 2016, and earlier advised the U.S. presidential campaigns of Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bob Dole. Manafort later faced federal prosecution brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and was pardoned by President Donald Trump in December 2020.
Early Life and Background
Paul John Manafort Jr. was born on April 1, 1949, in New Britain, Connecticut. He is the son of Paul John Manafort Sr. and Antoinette Mary Manafort. Manafort grew up in Connecticut and attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School, where his interest in politics and government began to take shape during his teenage years.
He went on to attend Georgetown University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1971. Manafort continued at Georgetown for his legal education, receiving a Juris Doctor in 1974. His time in Washington, D.C., as a student placed him in close proximity to the political and legal establishments that would later define his career.
Path to US Politics
After law school, Manafort began his political career in 1976, when he served as the delegate-hunt coordinator for eight states for the President Ford Committee. The overall Ford delegate operation was led by James A. Baker III, and the experience introduced Manafort to national campaign management. Between 1978 and 1980, he served as the southern coordinator for Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign and as deputy political director at the Republican National Committee.
Following Reagan’s election in November 1980, Manafort was appointed associate director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, deepening his ties to the Republican establishment. In 1981, he was nominated to the board of directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a position that broadened his international engagement and laid the foundation for his later foreign lobbying work.
Paul Manafort Career
Early Career (1977–1980)
Between 1977 and 1980, Manafort practiced law with the firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Washington, D.C. This role gave him a foothold in the legal and political networks of the capital while he continued his work on Republican campaigns.
In 1980, Manafort co-founded the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm Black, Manafort & Stone alongside Charles R. Black Jr. and Roger Stone. The firm quickly grew after Peter G. Kelly was recruited, and the name was changed to Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly (BMSK) in 1984. The firm would become one of the most prominent Republican-aligned consultancies of its era.
Lobbying Breakthrough (1980s–2000s)
Through BMSK, Manafort built a lucrative international lobbying practice representing foreign leaders and political parties. In 1985, his firm signed a contract worth $600,000 with Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi to refurbish Savimbi’s image in Washington and secure financial support on the basis of his anti-communism stance. BMSK arranged for Savimbi to attend events at the American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation, and Freedom House. In the wake of this campaign, Congress approved hundreds of millions of dollars in covert American aid to Savimbi’s group.
Manafort’s firm also accepted $950,000 yearly to lobby for Ferdinand Marcos, the then-president of the Philippines, and secured a $1 million annual contract in 1989 to represent Mobutu Sese Seko, the authoritarian President of the Republic of Zaïre. Between June 1984 and June 1986, Manafort was a FARA-registered lobbyist for Saudi Arabia. His firm also represented the governments of the Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Kenya, earning between $660,000 and $750,000 each year between 1991 and 1993. These activities resulted in Manafort’s firm being listed among the top five lobbying firms receiving money from human-rights-abusing regimes in the Center for Public Integrity report “The Torturers’ Lobby.”
In 1995, Manafort left BMSK and joined Rick Davis and Matthew C. Freedman in forming Davis, Manafort, and Freedman. By the mid-2000s, his work had shifted heavily toward Ukraine. Manafort worked as an adviser on the Ukrainian presidential campaign of Viktor Yanukovych and his Party of Regions from December 2004 until the February 2010 Ukrainian presidential election. In the 2010 election, Yanukovych pulled off a narrow win over Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and people in his party said the makeover of his political persona was engineered in part by Manafort.
Trump Campaign Era (2016)
In February 2016, Manafort approached Donald Trump through a mutual friend, Thomas J. Barrack Jr., pointing out his experience advising presidential campaigns in the United States and around the world. In March 2016, he joined Trump’s presidential campaign to take the lead in getting commitments from convention delegates. On June 20, 2016, Trump fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and promoted Manafort to the position of campaign chairman.
As chairman, Manafort gained control of the daily operations of the campaign, an expanded $20 million budget, hiring decisions, advertising, and media strategy. However, in August 2016, his connections to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his pro-Russian Party of Regions drew national attention in the United States. Reports emerged that Manafort may have received $12.7 million in off-the-books funds from the Party of Regions. On August 17, 2016, Trump shook up his campaign organization in a way that appeared to minimize Manafort’s role, and two days later Trump announced his acceptance of Manafort’s resignation from the campaign after Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway took on senior leadership roles.
Notable Events and Milestones
On October 30, 2017, Manafort was arrested by the FBI after being indicted by a federal grand jury as part of Mueller’s investigation. In August 2018, he stood trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and was convicted on eight charges of tax and bank fraud. In September 2018, he pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to conspiracy to defraud the United States and witness tampering. On December 23, 2020, President Donald Trump issued Manafort a full pardon.
Paul Manafort Career Wins
Paul Manafort’s career in political consulting produced a long record of high-profile campaign roles and international consulting engagements across more than four decades. His work spanned U.S. presidential campaigns and foreign governments, establishing him as one of the most recognizable Republican strategists of his era.
U.S. Presidential Campaign Highlights
Manafort served as a senior adviser or coordinator on the U.S. presidential campaigns of Gerald Ford in 1976, Ronald Reagan in 1980, George H. W. Bush in 1988, and Bob Dole in 1996. He later served as chairman of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign from June to August 2016.
Other Achievements
Internationally, Manafort advised Viktor Yanukovych’s successful 2010 Ukrainian presidential campaign, and his firm represented foreign governments and leaders in the Philippines, Zaire, Angola, Saudi Arabia, the Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Kenya. In 2024 and 2025, reports indicated that Manafort cooperated with individuals from Trump’s inner circle, including Tony Fabrizio and Chris LaCivita, who worked as consultants to the electoral campaign of Sali Berisha’s political party in the 2025 Albanian parliamentary election.
Paul Manafort Family
Family Background and Political Lineage
Paul Manafort was born to Paul John Manafort Sr. and Antoinette Mary Manafort in New Britain, Connecticut. He grew up in Connecticut and went on to attend St. Thomas Aquinas High School before enrolling at Georgetown University.
Personal Life
Manafort has been married to Kathleen Bond Manafort since August 12, 1978. The couple has two daughters, including Jessica Manafort and Andrea Manafort. The family has been based in Water Mill, New York.