Former Trump campaign associate Rick Gates testified against his longtime business partner, Paul Manafort, on Monday, stating the two men had committed “crimes” together.
According to reports from journalists in the courtroom, Gates replied “yes” when asked by prosecutors whether he had been “involved in any criminal activity” with Manafort, who previously served as Trump’s campaign chairman during the 2016 election.
Asked again if he and Manafort had “commi[tted] crimes” together, the political consultant responded simply, “Yes.”
BREAKING: Rick Gates in Manafort trial testimony:
Prosecutor: "Were you involved in any criminal activity with Mr. Manafort?"
Gates: "Yes".
Prosecutor: "Did you commit any crimes with Mr. Manafort?"
Gates: "Yes."
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 6, 2018
Manafort is currently on trial for a series of tax fraud and money laundering charges. Investigators claim he and Gates funneled at least $30 million in funds obtained through work they did for former pro-Russian Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych, prior to their work for the Trump campaign. Witnesses have testified that Manafort spent that money on a lavish lifestyle that included expensive clothing, cars, and home renovations, among other things.
The trial is the result of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, as well as allegations of collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russian officials, and possible obstruction by Trump himself.
According to CNBC, Gates testified Monday that he had been specifically instructed by Manafort to “report overseas income as loans in order to lower his taxable income.” Additionally, Gates said he and Manafort had a total of 15 foreign bank accounts that the two did not disclose to the government, CNN reported.
Manafort’s lawyers have attempted to frame Gates for those alleged crimes, saying he violated breaking finance laws and, as CNBC notes, “abused” Manafort’s trust, “embezzl[ing] millions of dollars from him.”
On Monday, Gates admitted point blank to “stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Mr. Manafort’s accounts” through false business expenses, according to The New York Times, undercutting the defense team’s strategy.
Gates has been cooperating with Mueller’s team since February, when he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy against the United States and one count of lying to investigators. By doing so, Gates became the third Trump associate to plead guilty in the Mueller investigation, after former national security adviser to the Trump administration Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December; and former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, who also pleaded guilty to lying to FBI in October.
As a result, he faces up to six years in prison.
Prior to that plea deal, Gates had maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty to a host of charges against himself and Manafort in October, which included conspiracy against the United States and failing to register as foreign agents for Ukraine.
Manafort is accused of falsifying loan applications and financial records to obtain illegal funding when his foreign payments dried up, after Yanukovych fled to Russia from Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s help.
As ThinkProgress previously reported, Manafort allegedly hid the origins of that funding and his previous foreign payments by lying about on forms sent to him by his tax preparation company.
“[Phil Ayliff, Manafort’s tax preparer], said his tax preparation firm received several emails from Manafort and Gates that assured the accountants they had no foreign accounts. Ayliff’s firm asked Manafort directly in an email in 2011 if he, his wife or two daughters had foreign accounts,” CNN reported Friday. “Manafort said no, according to the email shown to the jury.”
Manafort’s attorney, Kevin Downing, has downplayed those allegations, telling jurors last week that a guilty person would never have left that much evidence behind to indict himself.
“Nobody intending to violate the law would leave the evidence around for his accountant to find it,” he said, according to the Washington Post.
Looking back on history, who was treated worse, Alfonse Capone, legendary mob boss, killer and “Public Enemy Number One,” or Paul Manafort, political operative & Reagan/Dole darling, now serving solitary confinement – although convicted of nothing? Where is the Russian Collusion?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2018
For his part, President Trump, who appointed Manafort as his campaign chairman in June 2016, has waffled on his support for the consultant, more recently defending Manafort by comparing his treatment in prison to that of notorious gangster Al Capone.
“Looking back on history, who was treated worse, Alfonse Capone, legendary mob boss, killer and ‘Public Enemy Number One,’ or Paul Manafort, political operative & Reagan/Dole darling, now serving solitary confinement – although convicted of nothing?” he tweeted last week.
Previously, Trump has dismissed Manafort’s work for the Trump campaign, stating on several occasions — and as recently as June — that the former chairman “ha[d] nothing to do with our campaign.”