Besides his freedom, former Trump campaign Paul Manafort has lost a measure of support from his own daughter, Jessica. She’s now filed paperwork with the Manhattan Supreme Court seeking a name change. She wants to adopt her mother’s maiden name, Bond, as her own last name.
She’d previously indicated that she was interested in distancing herself from her heavily scrutinized — to say the least — father.
She’d explained to the Los Angeles Times in July:
‘I am a passionate liberal and a registered Democrat and this has been difficult for me. Although I am ‘the daughter of,’ I am very much my own person and hopefully people can realize that.’
She explained as much in connection to the release of a new movie she worked on, Rosy, which listed her in the credits as “Jess Bond.” The movie was no small undertaking, featuring the star power of figures like Johnny Knoxville and described as a “thriller with dark comedic undertones that explores a young woman’s attempt to break free from male toxicity by using her sexuality to empower herself.”
Jessica wanted to make the line of separation between her work and that of her father’s abundantly clear.
Her father, in the time since Rosy was released, has become a convicted felon. A Virginia jury found him guilty on eight counts of fraud last month, and this month he faces a second trial in D.C. area court.
That case focuses on some of the more political aspects of his work, including his failure to register as a foreign agent while operating as one in the United States. For years, he’d worked for pro-Putin interests based in Ukraine, but that work and its associated money laundering scheme came crashing down in the face of the Russia investigation.
Jessica has actually figured in news reports about her father’s activities in the past. Last year, hackers released text messages that her sister Andrea had sent her indicating that her father had a role in the mass execution of anti-government protesters at the hands of police in Ukraine in 2014, when he worked for then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
In the released texts, Andrea admonished Jessica:
‘Don’t fool yourself. That money we have is blood money.’
In the time since the texts were released, Manafort has been taken into police custody and faced rounds of charges, although it’s not immediately clear if or how he’s linked to the killings Yanukovych’s government carried out.
His daughter Jessica is hardly the only one seeking to distance themselves from the prominent political operative turned convicted felon. The Trump team itself has, as well. Despite his months-long stint as Trump’s campaign manager, they’ve insisted that his role was insignificant. Donald Trump himself has, though, sought to defend Manafort, praising him for refusing to flip and cooperate with prosecutors — although recent reports suggest he’s seeking a deal after all ahead of his second trial.
In short — it’s a massive, global mess that Jessica Manafort is working to distance herself from through changing her name.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
