CNN reports exclusively Tuesday night that Rick Gates – former Trump campaign aide and Paul Manafort protégé – has hired Tom Green, a well-known DC defense lawyer, and Green was "seen at special counsel Robert Mueller's office twice last week."
Green's involvement suggests that there is an ongoing negotiation between the defendant's team and the prosecutors. At this stage, with Gates' charges filed and bail set, talks could concern the charges and Gates' plea. The defense and prosecution are currently working together on discovery of evidence.
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Superseding indictments, which would add or replace charges against both Gates and Manafort, have been prepared, according to a source close to the investigation. No additional charges have been filed so far. When there is a delay in filing charges after they've been prepared, it can indicate that negotiations of some nature are ongoing.
While Manafort and Gates were indicted together in October and both pleaded not guilty to 12 charges (including conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts, being an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, and making false statements), CNN says the two defense teams work separately and prosecutors have been less combative with Gates' lawyers.
CNN also found the following noteworthy:
The judge overseeing the case finished a drawn-out process of changing Gates' bail condition last week. The federal prosecutors didn't stand in the way of Gates being released from house arrest, even after they and the judge found that his assets could barely back his $5 million bail.
At a hearing last week, the judge also acknowledged that the deadlines for legal work before a trial could be different for Gates and Manafort.
"We are the least prepared of anyone here and we want to do a good job and we need that time to be able to do it," Gates' lawyer Walter Mack told the judge as they discussed filing deadlines. A schedule hasn't been finalized.
Read more: Exclusive: New signs Gates may be negotiating with Mueller's team (CNN)