Mueller just made a move indicating that Rick Gates has something of significant value to offer him
- A federal court in Virginia granted the special counsel Robert Mueller's request to dismiss more than 20 charges brought against former deputy Trump campaign chairman Rick Gates.
- Gates pleaded guilty last week to two counts and is cooperating with special counsel's office.
- Mueller's decision to drop the charges against Gates indicates that the former adviser likely had something of significant value to offer the special counsel.
A federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Tuesday granted a motion by the special counsel Robert Mueller's office to dismiss several charges brought against Rick Gates, the former deputy chair of President Donald Trump's campaign.
The charges were originally brought last Thursday in a 32-count superseding indictment and accused Gates and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort of financial crimes related to tax and bank fraud.
Gates was charged with 24 counts in the indictment, which accused him, specifically, of tax fraud, failure to file foreign bank account reports, bank fraud, and bank fraud conspiracy.
Gates pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of conspiracy against the US and one count of making a false statement to federal investigators.
He and Manafort were previously charged, last October, with 12 counts: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.
Manafort has maintained his innocence since the initial charges were brought.
Gates was a key player during critical moments in the 2016 election season, and Mueller's motion to dismiss the charges against him are a sign that he has something of value to offer the special counsel.
Gates joined the Trump campaign in early 2016, when Manafort became the campaign chairman, and worked under him as his deputy. Manafort stepped down as Trump's campaign chairman in August 2016 after news reports surfaced about his murky ties to Ukraine's pro-Russia Party of Regions - and as Trump slumped in polls.
But even after Manafort left in August 2016, Gates maintained a significant role in the campaign operation, reportedly at the request of Steve Bannon, who became the head of the campaign following Manafort's departure.
In addition to working as an intermediary between the campaign and the Republican National Committee in 2016, Gates frequently traveled with Trump and later served as an adviser on the inaugural committee after Trump won the November election.
He was eventually ousted from a pro-Trump lobbying group in April 2017 amid questions about Russia's election interference, but he continued to visit the White House as late as June, according to The Daily Beast.
Former federal prosecutor Harry Sandick said in an email Tuesday that last week's 32-count indictment, which was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, could be described as a "rocket docket."
"Their cases move as or more quickly than cases anywhere else in the country," Sandick said. "Gates would need to plead guilty to these counts in the next couple of months and then be sentenced promptly - in three or four months."
He added that Mueller will likely need more time than that to "harvest Gates' cooperation. Once the cooperating defendant is sentenced, the prosecutor has much less leverage to encourage cooperation."
But because judges in the district the charges were brought in typically do not adjourn sentencing, Mueller opted to dismiss the charges "without prejudice," Sandick said, which ensures that they can be reinstated in the future if need be.
2 27 18 US Motion to Dismiss Gates by sonamsheth on Scribd