Mueller drops charges against Rick Gates, court OKs Boston spring break trip

Source: Politico | February 27, 2018 | Darren Samuelsohn

Former Donald Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates is quickly discovering that cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller has its advantages.

The lead Russia investigator asked a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia Tuesday to dismiss a series of criminal charges against Gates, including tax and bank fraud, in exchange for his guilty plea and testimony in the wider probe into the 2016 presidential election.

Gates also secured another win on Tuesday when a different judge granted his request to take his children to Boston next week for their spring break — well outside the 110-mile corridor between his home in Richmond and Washington that he’d previously been confined to for his travels.

The additional leniency comes after Gates agreed to a plea deal last Friday with Mueller that stipulates he must cooperate “in any and all matters” that the special counsel’s office decides are “relevant.”

Gates likely can help the government in its prosecution of his longtime business partner Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who is fighting Mueller’s indictments for money laundering, failing to register as an agent of a foreign government, and bank and tax fraud.

Gates is also expected to provide a wider window for Mueller into the Trump campaign, where he worked as deputy chairman under Manafort and later as a liaison to the Republican National Committee.

“He saw everything,” said a former Trump campaign consultant who worked with Gates and Manafort and called him one of the “top five” Trump insiders who Mueller could tap as cooperative government witnesses.

……..

Tagged: , , , ,

Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.