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Rick Gates sentenced to 45 days in jail, 3 years probation for conspiracy and lying to FBI in Mueller probe Rick Gates sentenced to 45 days in jail, 3 years probation for conspiracy and lying to FBI in Mueller probe
(about 4 hours later)
Former deputy Trump campaign chairman Rick Gates was sentenced to 45 days in jail Tuesday despite crimes that could have put him in prison for five or six years after offering what prosecutors described as extraordinary cooperation with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation. Former deputy Trump campaign chairman Rick Gates was sentenced to 45 days in jail Tuesday, for crimes that could have put him in prison for up to six years, after providing what a federal judge described as vital information for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Gates can serve the sentence on weekends, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said. Gates, who will be on probation for three years, must pay a $20,000 fine and perform 300 hours of community service. “He’s had to testify, be identified as a known cooperator in the glare of public attention at a time of deep political division in our society, when people are demonized for being on the other side, and he was seen as turning on his own side,” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in Washington federal court. “Gates’s information alone warranted, even demanded further investigation from the standpoint of national security, the integrity of our elections and enforcing criminal laws.”
In sentencing Gates, Jackson said she struggled to balance his crimes with the vital “evidence about matters of grave and international importance” he offered federal prosecutors. The former globe-trotting lobbyist and right-hand man to Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort can serve his sentence on weekends. Gates also must spend three years on probation, pay a $20,000 fine and perform 300 hours of community service.
“Gates’s information alone warranted, even demanded further investigation from the standpoint of national security, the integrity of our elections and enforcing criminal laws,” she said. “I greatly regret the mistakes that I have made, and I have worked hard to honor my commitment to make amends,” Gates said, quickly reading through prepared remarks.
A globe-trotting lobbyist who for a decade served as a right-hand man to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Gates, 47, pleaded guilty in February 2018 to lying to the FBI and conspiring to conceal tens of millions of dollars earned from lobbying work he and Manafort had done for Ukraine. He went on to testify against Manafort, and two others in cases stemming from the investigation of whether any Americans conspired with Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election. Gates, 47, asked for no jail time, and prosecutors did not oppose that request, given the scope of his testimony against Manafort, campaign associate Roger Stone and Democratic power lawyer Gregory B. Craig. Manafort and Stone were both convicted at trial, while Craig was acquitted.
In a charcoal suit and powder blue tie in federal court in Washington, Gates read quickly through prepared remarks, telling the judge that “I greatly regret the mistakes I have made” and that he accepts “complete responsibility” for his actions. Jackson said determining Gates’s sentence was “extraordinarily difficult.” She said she had to balance Gates’s “extremely candid” testimony on “matters of grave and international importance” against his crimes of lying to the FBI and conspiring to conceal tens of millions of dollars he and Manafort earned lobbying for Ukraine.
Jackson said it was “hard to overstate the amount of lies” and “the amount of money involved” in Gates’s fraud, which included helping his former boss launder $18 million made in Ukraine while pocketing $3 million himself. Rick Gates gives fresh details of Trump campaign’s dealings on WikiLeaks and suggests Trump was in the know
The scheme cheated American taxpayers out of more than $6 million that could have gone to pay for schools, roads and veterans’ care, Jackson said. Jackson said it was “hard to overstate the amount of lies” and money involved in Gates’s fraud, which included helping his former boss launder $18 million made in Ukraine while pocketing $3 million himself.
“Gates was hardly a minor player,” she said The scheme cheated American taxpayers out of more than $6 million that could have gone to pay for schools, roads and veterans’ care, Jackson said, while hiding the agenda of their pro-Russian Ukrainian clients from Congress and the public eye.
The lobbying work Gates and Manafort did for that money, she added, involved “lying to members of Congress and lying to the American public” about their Ukrainian clients. But the judge gave Gates credit for taking responsibility and cooperating. She cited in particular his revelation that Manafort in 2016 shared internal Trump campaign polling data and discussed advancing a Ukrainian peace plan backed by Russia with an aide the FBI assessed to have Russian intelligence connections.
“This deliberate effort to obscure the facts, to mislead, undermines our policymaking,” Jackson said. “If people don’t have the facts, democracy doesn’t work.” Manafort lied about those interactions, leading to the collapse of his plea agreement with the special counsel.
But the judge gave Gates credit for testimony she considered not just “extremely candid” but vital in Manafort’s case. The judge noted that Gates detailed Manafort’s sharing of polling data and discussion of a Ukrainian peace plan with an aide the FBI assessed to have Russian intelligence connections.
“Not all witnesses with knowledge cooperated, and not all who cooperated testified truthfully, and many communications were lost when deleted, or encrypted and not saved,” Jackson said.“Not all witnesses with knowledge cooperated, and not all who cooperated testified truthfully, and many communications were lost when deleted, or encrypted and not saved,” Jackson said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gaston called Gates’s cooperation “extraordinary,” especially with respect to Manafort’s trial. She cited the intense media coverage, pressure from Manafort and his supporters, and powerful interests opposed to his testimony. During Manafort’s 2018 trial in Virginia, defense attorneys hammered Gates’s credibility, pressing him to admit to jurors that he had embezzled from his boss, kept mistresses and doctored tax returns.
“Mr. Gates stands out as someone who amid such circumstances did the right thing,” she said. Tuesday’s sentencing came more than two years after Gates and Manafort in October 2017 became the first people publicly charged in Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference, which ultimately led to convictions for six Trump aides or associates.
Gates, she said, had also agreed to continue cooperating in “ongoing investigations” detailed in sealed court filings submitted to the judge before the sentencing.
Gates’s original plea deal called for a possible five- or six-year prison term, but federal prosecutors in court filings last week said they would not oppose his attorney’s request for no prison time.
Gates’s attorney requested probation and community service.
The U.S. attorney’s office for the District assumed the case in March when the special counsel investigation concluded. The front row of the wood-paneled courtroom was a reunion of sorts for more than half a dozen prosecutors and federal agents from Mueller’s investigation. Andrew Weissmann, who oversaw the Manafort prosecution, warmly greeted Gates and his attorney, Thomas Green.
Gates, of Richmond, has complied with three congressional subpoenas and spent more than 500 hours with federal and state prosecutors, Green said. He cooperated with prosecutors while caring for his wife, whose breast cancer was diagnosed this year, supporters said, and their four children.
Read prosecutors’ sentencing memo here
Tuesday’s sentencing comes more than two years after Gates and Manafort became the first people publicly charged in Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference, in October 2017.
Manafort served as Donald Trump’s campaign chairman until August 2016, when he resigned as word of his Ukraine work surfaced. However, Gates remained until Election Day, working at one point for the Republican National Committee, and then became deputy chairman of Trump’s inaugural committee.
Although Manafort battled some of his charges through trial and reneged on a plea deal by lying to prosecutors after admitting guilt to other offenses, Gates never backtracked from his plea or cooperation.
Jackson said Gates’s cooperation showed that “there was ample basis for decision-makers at the highest level of the Department of Justice” to authorize and pursue a law enforcement investigation into whether there was any coordination between the campaign and known foreign interference in the election as well as any attempts to obstruct that investigation.
Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates pleads guilty to 2 charges, will cooperate in Mueller probe
Gates is one of six Trump aides or associates convicted in cases arising from the special counsel inquiry, and he served as a witness in three trials. He provided firsthand insight into the president’s senior aides and activities and gave information used in a dozen search warrant applications, the government said.
During a 2018 trial of Manafort in Virginia, Manafort’s defense attorneys hammered Gates’s credibility, pressing him to admit to jurors that he had embezzled from Manafort, kept mistresses and doctored tax returns.
But Gates’s testimony proved crucial, leading the Virginia jury to convict Manafort, who later pleaded guilty in another federal case in Washington.
Paul Manafort sentenced to a total of 7.5 years in prison for conspiracy and fraud, and charged with mortgage fraud in N.Y.Paul Manafort sentenced to a total of 7.5 years in prison for conspiracy and fraud, and charged with mortgage fraud in N.Y.
Manafort was sentenced early this year to 7½ years in prison in both cases for conspiring to defraud the United States by concealing $30 million of what he earned while working for a Russia-backed political party in Ukraine; conspiring to tamper with witnesses; and committing bank and tax fraud to buy properties and support his lavish lifestyle. Information Gates provided, Jackson said, showed that “there was ample basis for decision-makers at the highest level of the Department of Justice” to investigate whether there was any coordination between the campaign and foreigners interfering in the election, or possible obstruction of justice.
The conduct at the heart of the charges against both men mostly predated their time on the campaign and Mueller’s appointment in 2017. Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gaston called Gates’s cooperation “extraordinary” in the face of intense media coverage, pressure from Manafort and his supporters and powerful interests opposed to his testimony.
Jackson presided over Manafort’s case in Washington and two other trials in which Gates testified for the government: against Trump confidant Roger Stone and Democratic power lawyer Gregory B. Craig. “Mr. Gates stands out as someone who amid such circumstances did the right thing,” Gaston said.
Gates was in court as a witness in August assisting Mueller’s spinoff investigation of Washington lobbyists and the foreign influence industry. He testified for the government in the prosecution of Craig, a former top legal adviser to presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Craig was found not guilty at trial in September of lying to the Justice Department to conceal media contacts in 2012 related to his work with Manafort for the Ukrainian government. Gates, she said, provided information used in a dozen search warrant applications and has agreed to continue cooperating in “ongoing investigations” detailed in sealed court filings.
In Stone’s trial in November, Gates revealed details of the Trump campaign’s intense interest in emails that the government alleged were hacked by Russia and released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks to derail Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Gates, of Richmond, has complied with three congressional subpoenas and spent more than 500 hours with federal and state prosecutors, his attorney Thomas Green said. He cooperated with prosecutors while caring for his wife, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and their four children.
Rick Gates gives fresh details of Trump campaign’s dealings on WikiLeaks and suggests Trump was in the know Manafort served as Donald Trump’s campaign chairman until August 2016, when he resigned over his past work in Ukraine for its former president, Viktor Yanukovych, and his pro-Russian political party. However, Gates remained until Election Day, working at one point for the Republican National Committee, and then became deputy chairman of Trump’s inaugural committee.
Gates’s testimony included describing a phone call between Stone and Trump at a key moment in the campaign in late July 2016, in which Gates said Trump seemed to discuss WikiLeaks, calling into question the president’s assertion to Mueller’s office that he did not recall such discussions with his longtime friend. Manafort was sentenced early this year to 71/2 years in prison in both cases for conspiring to defraud the United States conspiring to tamper with witnesses and committing bank and tax fraud to buy properties and support his lavish lifestyle.
In the illegal-lobbying case against Craig in September, Gates testified that the former Democratic White House counsel contacted a reporter as part of Manafort’s Ukraine efforts in 2012. Craig was found not guilty of lying to the Justice Department about those media contacts.
In Stone’s trial in November, Gates revealed details of the Trump campaign’s intense interest — shared by the candidate himself — in Stone’s efforts to learn about Democratic emails the government alleged were hacked by Russia and released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. The emails, the government alleged, were released by WikiLeaks to derail Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Stone, who was convicted last month, faces sentencing in February for tampering with a witness and lying to Congress about the scope of his efforts.Stone, who was convicted last month, faces sentencing in February for tampering with a witness and lying to Congress about the scope of his efforts.
Federal judge finds Paul Manafort lied to Mueller probe about contacts with Russian aideFederal judge finds Paul Manafort lied to Mueller probe about contacts with Russian aide
Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates pleads guilty to 2 charges, will cooperate in Mueller probe of Russian interference in 2016 U.S. electionFormer Trump campaign official Rick Gates pleads guilty to 2 charges, will cooperate in Mueller probe of Russian interference in 2016 U.S. election
Federal judge finds Paul Manafort lied to Mueller probe about contacts with Russian aideFederal judge finds Paul Manafort lied to Mueller probe about contacts with Russian aide
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