In June 2016, Donald Trump hired Manafort to manage his campaign for president, and Gates went to work for Manafort. Gates handled the day-to-day activities of the campaign. He took responsibility for apparent plagiarism during Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention. Gates stayed with the campaign after Manafort was forced out, and then went to work as a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee and the Donald Trump Inaugural Committee. He then helped to form a pro-Trump nonprofit group called America First Policies, but was removed from the organization due to his involvement with Manafort’s overseas ventures.[7]
IIRC, Manafort was brought in to keep the delegates that Trump had already legally won in the primaries but were in danger of being stolen by the #2 guy.