Trump to Outline Economic Goals in Detroit

Donald Trump RNC speech 2 FBN

Donald Trump's campaign chairman said the Republican presidential nominee would focus on the economy in the coming week to get his campaign's narrative back "where it belongs."

Paul Manafort made the comments Sunday in an interview with Fox News's Maria Bartiromo. They come after a stormy week in which Mr. Trump tussled with the parents of a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq, appeared to call for a crying baby to be ejected from a rally, and drew controversy by declining to endorse Speaker of the House Paul Ryan before later backing him.

Responding to questions about the controversial week, Mr. Manafort emphasized that Mr. Trump was focused and would soon lay out his economic vision, drawing contrasts to President Barack Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

"Starting Monday, we're going to be announcing our economic plan," Mr. Manafort said. "When we do that, we're comfortable we can get the agenda and the narrative of the campaign back on where it belongs, which is comparing the tepid economy under Obama and Clinton, versus the kind of growth economy that Mr. Trumpwants to build."

Mr. Trump plans to give a speech Monday to the Detroit Economic Club.

The campaign manager denied that Mr. Trump's aides mounted an emergency intervention this week to bring the candidate back on message. Mr. Manafort also cautioned that it was only the beginning of a three-month general-election campaign and said Mr. Trump would start doing "what he needs to do."

"He is very focused," Mr. Manafort said. "He knows what he needs to do. I am confident he is going to start doing it and eventually the media will start having to cover it."

Mr. Manafort said the New York real-estate mogul had raised more than $132 million over the past two months from more than 1.2 million donors.

He said Mr. Trump would outline his plan Monday to lower taxes, cut regulation, promote U.S.'s energy sector and achieve real wage growth. By contrast, Mr. Manafort said, Mrs. Clinton "is going to raise taxes, lots of taxes, on everyone."