Trump ready to define the true ‘change’ needed in convention speech, Manafort says

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Paul Manafort on Republican National Convention preparations

Trump presidential campaign chairman discusses the road to the convention and the VP shortlist

Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort said Sunday that Trump’s  speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s convention will focus on telling Americans that “it’s time for a change” and that Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is the “epitome of the establishment” that should no longer rule politics.

“Her 25 years in the national spotlight are the 25 years where America has gone into decline,” Manafort told “Fox News Sunday.” "It’s time for dramatic change -- not just change where people promise changes and then go to Washington and do nothing.”

He also tried to put an end to speculation that Trump had or still has second thoughts about taking Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate.

“There was never any doubt,” Manafort said about reports that Trump was unsure as late as Thursday night about announcing Pence on Friday.

He said the Thursday night discussions were about the terror attack in Nice, France, that delayed the Pence announcement.

“What we were talking about on Thursday night was … the tragedy,” Manafort said. Trump “called Gov. Pence on Wednesday. Gov. Pence was in New York. He wasn’t there to shop.”

He also said Trump will continue to remind voters, as he did successfully in the GOP primaries, that he is not a career politician or a Washington insider.

“We’re going to be talking about he’s not part of Washington,” Manafort said. “He’s going to come in and, like he’s done in business, and like he’s always done in his life, he’s going to make a difference because he’s going to bring focus, purpose and change to Washington.”

He also said the Nice attack, in which at least 84 people were killed, and several other deadly terror strikes recently in the United States and elsewhere in the world should reinforce to voters why they should pick Trump, who has vowed to tighten U.S. borders and put a temporary ban on Muslims coming into the country.

“The world today is a mess because of the failure of U.S. leadership -- the leadership that (President) Obama and Clinton, as secretary of state, put in place,” Manafort said.