Trump Campaign Official Rick Gates Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy, Lying To Fbi

Rick Gates, who was a top official in President Trump’s 2016 campaign, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy and lying to the FBI, striking a deal to cooperate and provide information to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s ongoing investigation as it edges closer to the White House. The plea capped a tumultuous 24 hours for Gates in which he was hit with fresh charges, changed lawyers, admitted crimes and agreed to provide information about his ex-boss – former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Gates’s plea raises the pressure on Manafort, who now faces the prospect of fighting two separate indictments charging him with dozens of financial crimes – cases that are now buttressed by the likely testimony of his former right hand man. Manafort expressed surprise at Gates’s decision, but still vowed to beat the charges against him. “Notwithstanding that Rick Gates pleaded today, I continue to maintain my innocence,” Manafort said in a statement.