DC: Attorneys for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort tore into the reputation of his former business partner, Rick Gates, during court proceedings Tuesday, suggesting his testimony cannot be trusted.
Leading the defense, lawyer Kevin Downing questioned Gates over previous testimony given to Special Counsel Robert Mueller in February that he admitted he knew was false. Gates’s false testimony occurred before he agreed in February to cooperate with Mueller in the tax and bank fraud trial of Manafort, reports Reuters.
Downing also highlighted an admission Gates made during testimony Monday that he submitted false expense reports paid to accounts in Cyprus in order to embezzle hundreds of thousands from Manafort. The defense even pressed Gates on his alleged, “separate, secret life,” which included an affair from more than a decade ago with a woman in London, which he allegedly used “business expenses to pay for.”
The defense’s strategy is to undermine Gates’ credibility — the prosecution’s star witness who also served as a Trump campaign aid — and show that any financial fraud was the doing of Gates, not Manafort, who has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of bank and tax fraud.
“Have they confronted you with so many lies that you can’t remember?” Downing asked Gates with regards to the special counsel’s team, according to The Associated Press. more here
Mueller has that slipping feeling as his case slowly drips away.
In a little bit of editorializing, Fox Radio news (Fox!) yesterday, said “OF COURSE Paul Manafort’s attorney said Gates was lying” WTF is THAT?
So Gates commits most of the fraud and gets an immunity deal from the prosecution. Manafort is aware of some of the fraud and goes to jail. That sounds like the American justice system is working so well it can now pinpoint and narrow its punishment onto someone it just doesn’t like for political reasons.
If Mendez, the corrupt D-Senator from NJ can beat his charges, Manafort could skate on his. Prosecutors said they had Menendez dead-to-rights, and look what happened (a mistrial). He is a liberal though, which Manafort is not, so it will be harder for sure.