In October, the Mueller investigation filed multiple indictments against two men who worked for the Trump campaign, campaign manager Paul Manafort, and his deputy Rick Gates. Manafort is the splashier character with his past lobbying for dictators and allegations of vast financial fraud totaling millions of dollars, but Gates was right there beside him. And now, it appears that Gates is getting ready to take a plea deal.
CBS News reports that three of Gates’ four attorneys, Shanlon Wu, Walter Mack, and Annemarie McAvoy, all experienced trial attorneys, have submitted requests to withdraw from Gates’ case. In effect, they are asking the court to allow them to quit. Of note, Gates’ fourth attorney, Tom Green, has not submitted any such request. Green was added to Gates’ defense team last week and is known to be an expert at negotiating federal plea deals.
The withdrawal is important for a few reasons, although it may not be granted. While working on Gates’ case, his attorneys must abide by the gag order imposed on the proceedings, so there may be some concerns there. More relevantly, however, lawyers only apply to withdraw from a case for a handful of reasons, and many speculate Gates will take a plea deal and testify against Paul Manafort.
This will have implications well beyond Manafort, who is currently attempting to fight his indictment by suing the Justice Department. If Gates serves as a witness against Manafort, that would make his legal situation much more dire. At the same time, it’s worth remembering that neither Manafort nor Gates’ indictments have anything to do with the Trump campaign. Instead the charges tie to various financial crimes that date back more than a decade. Gates may have nothing at all to say about his time in the 2016 campaign. But it appears he has something the government is interested in hearing.
(Via CBS News)