Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates will plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false statements, in the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian meddling it was learned today. The plea is an indication that Gates may begin cooperating with Mueller’s investigation. Negotiations between Mueller and Gates’ legal team were said to be going on for weeks.
Gates and his supervisor, onetime Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, were indicted last October on money laundering charges and lying to the FBI. A superseding indictment of the two was filed this week that included charges of tax evasion and failure to disclose foreign bank accounts.
Gates would be the third former Trump official to cooperate with the Mueller investigation, if he chooses to do so. The other two were former foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos and former National Security Advisor Ret. Gen. Michael Flynn.
The White House though, said through an official, that they believe there is little information that Gates could provide to prosecutors that would be harmful to the President.