Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates testified Monday that he had committed crimes with Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Manafort is currently on trial in Alexandria, Va., on charges of tax evasion and bank fraud. The charges are unrelated to Manafort’s work on the Trump campaign and mostly relate to activities he was involved in before Manafort joined the campaign.
The prosecution called its star witness to the stand Monday afternoon, asking if Gates was “involved in any criminal activity” with Manafort, his former business associate.
“Yes,” Gates answered, according to several reporters in the room during the exchange.
“Did you commit any crimes with Mr. Manafort?” prosecutor Uzo Asonye asked.
“Yes,” Gates replied.
Rick Gates has taken the stand in the Manafort case.
Prosecutor Uzo Asonye asked, “Were you involved in any criminal activity with Mr. Manafort?” Gates answered, “Yes.”
“Did you commit any crimes with Mr. Manafort?” Asonye said.
“Yes,” said Gates.
h/t@CharlieGileNBC
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) August 6, 2018
Gates later testified that one of his crimes was stealing money directly from Manafort. He admitted on the stand that he had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from Manafort.
Gates testified he and Manafort had 15 foreign accounts that they did not report to the federal government. Gates said he knew such actions were illegal, but he did not submit the required tax forms “at Mr. Manafort’s direction.”
Rick Gates testifying he and Paul Manafort had 15 foreign accounts they did not report to the federal government, and knew it was illegal. He said he did not submit the required forms “at Mr. Manafort’s direction.”
— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) August 6, 2018
Manafort’s team has indicated it will pin the blame on Gates for the illegalities being raised in the trial. None of the allegations of the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia are being raised in the case.
