Eliza Collins

USA TODAY

Donald Trump isn’t likely to pick a woman or someone from a minority group to share his ticket because that would be “pandering.”

That’s according to Paul Manafort, a top adviser to Trump, in an interview with The Huffington Post out Wednesday night.

Manafort also thinks that Trump — who has been struggling with his image with Hispanics — may not bring in the same level of Hispanic support that George W. Bush did when he ran for president, but he’ll get enough.

“He gonna win unless we — meaning people like me — screw it up. This is not a hard race," Manafort said.

Manafort said that Trump won’t be changing for everyone and what he's been doing has been working.

“You don’t change Donald Trump,” he said. “You don’t ‘manage’ him.”

Manafort’s comments come two days after Trump attacked New Mexico Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, someone who has been described as a GOP rising star.

Martinez is the first Hispanic female governor and boasts high popularity in her state. Her name has been thrown around as a potential vice presidential pick for Trump. She has said she’s not interested and hasn’t endorsed Trump at this point, either.

Manafort did say Trump would change one thing — his tone on Muslims.

“He’s already started moderating on that,” Manafort said. “He operates by starting the conversation at the outer edges and then brings it back towards the middle. Within his comfort zone, he’ll soften it some more.”

On Thursday afternoon, a senior press representative for Trump appeared on CNN and was asked about Manafort's comments — but she said she wasn't part of the vice president selection process.

"I’m not part of that process, Corey Lewandowski … he’s heading that up," said Healy Baumgardner regarding Trump's campaign manager. “I cannot speculate based off another person’s who works for the campaign’s remarks."

But when pressed further if she thought there were women out there who were qualified to be vice president, Baumgardner said gender had nothing to do with it — the decision would be based on qualifications and performance.

"There are many qualified men and women to be vice president of the United States," she said.

On Thursday afternoon, Trump spoke to reporters in Bismarck, N.D., and was asked about Manafort's comments. He dismissed them as a "misquote."

"I fully expect we’ll have many women involved," he said. "We’re going to have women involved at the absolute highest levels.”