Top Trump aide tells RNC the candidate has a 'different persona' in private

A top aide to Donald Trump told a meeting of the Republican National Committee on Thursday that the Republican frontrunner has a "different persona" when he's behind closed doors, NBC News reports.

In a recording of the meeting obtained by NBC News, Paul Manafort says that when Trump is "out on the stage, when he's talking about the kinds of things he's talking about on the stump, he's projecting an image that's for that purpose." He's doing this, Manafort continued, in order to keep supporters on his side. "He gets it," Manafort said, and "the part that he's been playing is evolving into the part that now you've been expecting, but he wasn't ready for because he had to first feed the first phase."

Manafort also guaranteed that Trump will raise money for the Republican Party, and hasn't been doing so now because of his campaign pledge to not take any donations. "He's actually living his word, and that's what the base that we are attracting to the Trump campaign is looking for," he said. "They're looking for honesty, and they're looking for consistency, and they're looking for someone who does exactly what they said."

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