All the Senate Republican chiefs of staff were invited to a meeting with top Donald Trump adviser Paul Manafort, though it's not clear whether they will all attend. | Getty Manafort to GOP aides: Trump's 'behavior can be changed' The newly empowered chief strategist says Trump can win over Hispanics and be a Reaganesque figure.

Donald Trump's newly empowered chief strategist sought to convince top GOP congressional officials on Capitol Hill that Trump can compete for the Latino vote, exploit Hillary Clinton's weaknesses and become a Reagan-esque figure in the party, according to attendees and sources familiar with the meeting.

After Trump himself attempted to sooth House and Senate Republican leaders over how the presumptive nominee will conduct his campaign and work to keep Congress in GOP control, it was Paul Manafort's turn on Thursday to try and win over some of the top GOP operatives in the party. Facing a room full of seasoned campaign veterans and longtime congressional aides at D.C. law firm Jones day on Capitol Hill, Manafort struck a confident tone.


He told attendees that Ronald Reagan used to be criticized just like Trump is now for his polarizing reputation within the Republican Party, the sources said. And the senior Trump adviser said the campaign will work hard to court Latinos, despite Trump's poor approval ratings among Hispanics and Trump's controversial comments about Mexican immigrants, said one attendee.

Though Manafort has joined the campaign to bring an extra layer of seasoning to an operation filled with fresh-faced Republican operatives, he insisted that his power is limited: Trump, he said in so many words, is going to be Trump.

Yet, his own promotion, announced Thursday by the campaign, belied Manafort's message. Brought on to serve as "convention manager" amid concerns that Trump's campaign lacked the organizational bandwidth and institutional knowledge necessary to secure loyal delegates, Manfort saw his title officially changed Thursday to "campaign chairman and chief strategist." It's the clearest indication yet that the longtime operative, hired just two months ago, is now in charge of Trump's campaign as it shifts into general election mode.

Trump, even as he was rebounding from a tough loss in Wisconsin to seal the nomination battle a month later, has seen his campaign roiled by an internal power struggle sparked by Manafort's hire and the threat it posed to campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who has run the day-to-day operations and organized the rallies that were a staple of Trump's primary campaign.

Unnerved by the apparent threat to his own primacy within the campaign hierarchy, Lewandowski has sought to give the impression that he remains in charge, following Manafort to an RNC meeting in Florida last month to address party insiders and continuing to follow Trump himself on the road.

When Manafort was asked Thursday about the vice presidential vetting process, he pointedly shot down a report that campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was leading the effort: “I’m not in charge. Corey’s not in charge. [Ben] Carson’s not in charge. Donald Trump is in charge,” Manafort said, according to an attendee.

But Manafort also reinforced a message that Trump delivered to GOP senators last week: That Trump realizes that Republicans are concerned with the tone and tenor of his campaign. When asked about Trump’s high negatives, Manafort said it was the result of the Republican primary and that Trump's "behavior can be changed.”

After this article posted, Manafort told POLITICO his comment about change referred to Trump’s negatives, during an exchange about the candidate’s favorable-unfavorable numbers. Manafort said the point he made was: “His negatives are going to be changing over the course of the next couple of weeks, as Republicans come home. They’re changing as we speak.

Perceptions of Clinton are more ingrained, he told senators.

Her “high negatives are driven by her character. It’s something we can’t wait to exploit," Manafort said, according to the same attendee.

All the Republican Senate chiefs were invited, though not all of them were able to attend due to Senate business. And it wasn't an easy crowd: Some Senate Republicans have refused to endorse Donald Trump, while others have given lukewarm endorsements to Trump and left room for them to abandon his campaign should things get too rocky.

After the lunchtime meeting, Manafort was seen strolling through the Senate after the meeting with an aide. He declined to speak with reporters.

