(CNN) When Paul Manafort entered an Alexandria, Virginia, courtroom on Thursday, he did so in a wheelchair. The starkness of that contrast highlights how quickly Manafort rose in the understaffed world of then-candidate Trump and how precipitously he has fallen in the two-and-a-half years since that triumphant moment in Cleveland. Manafort was widely considered to be past his political prime -- he came of age, professionally speaking, during the Reagan years -- when Trump suddenly named him campaign chairman and chief strategist in May 2016. (Manafort replaced Corey Lewandowski, a controversial figure whose qualifications for the job were primarily his unswerving loyalty to Trump.) (A quick survey of respected GOP officials at the time would have, inevitably, turned up considerable doubts about both Manafort and his business practices.

Source: CNN March 08, 2019 00:30 UTC