Former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates is finalizing a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller's office, indicating he's poised to cooperate in the investigation, according to sources familiar with the case.
Gates has already spoken to Mueller's team about his case and has been in plea negotiations for about a month. He's had what criminal lawyers call a "Queen for a Day" interview, in which a defendant answers any questions from the prosecutors' team, including about his own case and other potential criminal activity he witnessed.
Gates' cooperation could be another building block for Mueller in a possible case against President Donald Trump or key members of his team.
Once a plea deal is in place, Gates would become the third known cooperator in Mueller's sprawling probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. It would also increase the pressure to cooperate on Gates' co-defendant Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, who has pleaded not guilty to Mueller's indictment and is preparing for a trial on alleged financial crimes unrelated to the campaign. Gates pleaded not guilty on October 30 alongside Manafort.
That "Queen for a Day" expression was explained last night on the Rachel Maddow show, as being an arrangement where the subject HAS to tell the absolute truth about everything, knowing that he will not be prosecuted for the things that he personally confesses to, unless he attempts to walk back his statements later.
So that means that Gates in in a box, and his only chance of avoiding significant jail time is to cooperate fully with the investigation, and testify in court.
This also means that Paul Manafort is in a corner, and that if he does not also flip, he will definitely be seeing the insides of a prison cell.
I think it is beyond clear at this point that Mueller has built a strong case against Trump, and is now closing in.
Source http://ift.tt/2EO9Ama
