CNN reveals Rick Gates is getting ready to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Gates has already spoken to Mueller's team about his case and has been in plea negotiations for about a month. He's had what criminal lawyers call a "Queen for a Day" interview, in which a defendant answers any questions from the prosecutors' team, including about his own case and other potential criminal activity he witnessed.
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Once a plea deal is in place, Gates would become the third known cooperator in Mueller's sprawling probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. It would also increase the pressure to cooperate on Gates' co-defendant Paul Manafort ...
Gates, Manafort’s protégé and Donald Trump's former deputy campaign manager, had pleaded not guilty to multiple 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:
Gates' plea deal could be announced in the next few days, given that he's asked a judge for an extension until Wednesday to discuss his in-flux legal representation.
At the same time, investigators with the special counsel's office are preparing to file new charges against him ...
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The threat of new charges could be used in the negotiation to pressure Gates into cooperating and pleading. With his current set of eight charges, Gates could face 10 or more years in prison if found guilty.
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The charges against Manafort and Gates center on work they did for Russia-sympathetic politicians in Ukraine between 2006 and 2015. Federal prosecutors said they earned tens of millions of dollars from that work, which they then allegedly laundered through US and foreign companies and bank accounts.
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Manafort and Gates were at the helm of the campaign during the critical summer 2016 period when senior campaign officials, including Manafort, met a group of Russians at Trump Tower who had promised damaging information on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. They were also in charge during the Republican National Convention when a handful of Trump campaign associates met with the Russian ambassador, and when Trump campaign officials intervened to change language on the platform about the Ukraine crisis.
Read more: Exclusive: A top Trump campaign adviser close to plea deal with Mueller (CNN)