Haven’t seen this reported here yet, but CNN is saying Rick Gates — Paul Manafort’s former deputy and the Trump Campaign’s Treasurer — is close to getting a plea deal from the Mueller Investigation.
www.cnn.com/…
Given this is a couple hours old, he might have gotten the deal already. Either way, this is a MAJOR development in Mueller’s investigation as Gates will likely know much of what Manafort does about what went on during the campaign. Given he was the Treasurer, he likely also knows alot about the monies that were coming in (and more importantly from where).
We’re likely still a good distance from the end of this, but this news indicates the investigation is moving steadily towards its targets.
And given who those targets are, we should be prepared for them — especially the guy squatting in the oval office — to do literally anything to keep the hammer from falling on them.
UPDATE: Um, Rec List? Thank you (I suppose). Haven’t had a chance to read through the comments yet, so I hope the discussion there has been civil.
Update 2: It behooves me to point out that we need (a) official confirmation his plea deal has been accepted by the Special Counsel, and (b) details about exactly what exactly he plead down to. A plea deal will, in my understanding, invariably involve at least one count of one criminal charge, that being the absolute lowest the subject can be charged with.
Given what Gates was potentially involved in during the campaign, and more importantly who he might have been interfacing with both during the campaign and during the transition, whatever he’s ultimately charged with could be a good indicator of just how valuable his cooperation is with the Special Counsel’s investigation. The more rinky-dink the charge, the bigger the fish he’s likely helping to hook.
Put it this way: if he’s charged with a single count for something on the level of lying to the FBI or moving illicit funds, its a decent bet he’s given the Mueller team some hefty data (or corroborated some truly hefty stuff). Mueller wouldn’t have approved something that mediocre unless Gates was offering a lot in exchange. Of course the reverse is true as well; heavy charges means this was much ado over very little, and Gates is off to the big house (and our national nightmare continues).
Again, we’ll need to wait and see.