Trump Campaign Denounces John Kasich in Ohio, Where Convention Begins
.. Addressing reporters at a breakfast on Monday, Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s de facto campaign manager, accused Mr. Kasich of acting “petulant” for refusing to support Mr. Trump following the governor’s defeat in the Republicans’ presidential nominating process.
“He’s embarrassing his party in Ohio,” Mr. Manafort said of Mr. Kasich, calling the governor’s chief political strategist the culprit behind Mr. Kasich’s strategy of not endorsing Mr. Trump. “Negotiations broke down because John Weaver thinks that John Kasich will have a better chance to be president by not supporting Donald Trump.”
.. also pointedly brought up Mr. Manafort’s history of working with contentious foreign leaders.
“Manafort’s problem, after all those years on the lam with thugs and autocrats, is that he can’t recognize principle and integrity,” Mr. Weaver wrote in an email. “I do congratulate him though on a great pivot at the start of the convention after such a successful vice-presidential launch. He has brought great professionalism, direct from Kiev, to Trump world.”
But Mr. Kasich, who will not appear onstage this week, is not just another Republican skeptic of Mr. Trump: he is also the two-term governor of the hotly contested swing state where the convention is taking place and where the election may be decided in November.
Recognizing this, Mr. Manafort used his remarks at the Bloomberg Politics-sponsored breakfast to assail Mr. Kasich, while also driving a wedge between the governor and Senator Rob Portman of Ohio.