Idaho has ties to ex-Trump ambassador nominee who’s subject of pay-to-play speculation

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Doug Manchester formerly owned the Whitetail Club Resort.

A bid by a California developer to become a U.S. ambassador apparently came to an end after an Idaho senator blew the whistle on him to the White House.

San Diego billionaire Doug Manchester is at the center of a possible “pay-to-play” solicitation after he was asked by the Republican National Committee to donate $500,000 as his U.S. Senate confirmation languished, according to a CBS News investigation.

Manchester is the founder of Manchester Financial Group, which formerly owned the private Whitetail Club Resort and formerly owned Shore Lodge, both in McCall.

Manchester, who goes by “Papa Doug,” donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund via his “Papa Doug Trust.”

President Donald Trump formally nominated Manchester to be U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas in May 2017. After Manchester failed to get Senate confirmation, Trump renominated him in January 2018 and in January 2019.

That nomination has remained stalled in U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho.

After Manchester made a humanitarian aid trip to the Bahamas in September, Trump tweeted on Sept. 7: “... .I would also like to thank “Papa” Doug Manchester, hopefully the next Ambassador to the Bahamas, for the incredible amount of time, money and passion he has spent on helping to bring safety to the Bahamas.”

Three days after the tweet, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, the niece of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, asked Manchester for a donation.

According to an email obtained exclusively by CBS News, she asked Manchester, “Would you consider putting together $500,000 worth of contributions from your family to ensure we hit our ambitious fundraising goal?”

Manchester wrote back to McDaniel’s request for $500,000, “As you know I am not supposed to do any, but my wife is sending a contribution for $100,000. Assuming I get voted out of the [Foreign Relations Committee] on Wednesday to the floor we need you to have the majority leader bring it to a majority vote … Once confirmed, I our [sic] family will respond!” CBS News reported.

In his email reply to McDaniel, Manchester copied staffers of two GOP members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Risch and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Risch informed the White House of the email, and the White House subsequently asked Manchester to withdraw. Manchester eventually withdrew from consideration in October, citing personal reasons.

On Nov. 13, just five days before CBS’ report broke, the White House officially announced that it had withdrawn Manchester’s name from consideration to be ambassador.

Risch’s office confirmed to the Statesman on Tuesday that CBS’ reporting is correct and that Risch did alert the White House to Manchester’s email. Risch would not comment further on the issue.

The RNC says it has done nothing wrong. In a statement, a spokesman told CBS, “The Chairwoman did not suggest to Mr. Manchester in any way that it would more quickly advance his confirmation if members of his family made a political contribution. ... Mr. Manchester’s decision to link future contributions to an official action was totally inappropriate.”

The RNC told CBS it has cut ties with Manchester and returned the money his family donated this year.

After learning about the RNC donation request and Manchester’s response, U.S. Reps Ted Lieu, D-California, and Kathleen Rice, D-New York, sent a joint letter on Monday to FBI Director Christopher Wray, urging him to “investigate a possible pay-to-play scheme between the Republican National Committee and President Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the Bahamas.”

“Mr. Manchester’s email specifically copied two staffers for Senate Republicans who are members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and receive political support from the RNC. As you know, bribery of a public official is prohibited under 18 U.S.C. 201, and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States is prohibited under 18 U.S.C. 371. We urge the FBI to investigate these allegations and reassure the American people that public office is not for sale,” states the letter.

This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 12:55 PM.