Former Trump associate Rick Gates has been sentenced to 45 days in jail, 3 years probation, and a $20,000 fine

• US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Rick Gates, President Donald Trump's former deputy campaign chairman, to three years of probation and 45 days in jail, to be served on weekends.
• He was also sentenced to pay a $20,000 fine. Gates' sentence is far more lenient than what sentencing guidelines recommended, and Jackson cited his extensive cooperation and decision to take responsibility for his actions as contributing factors in her decision.
• Gates pleaded guilty last year to two counts of conspiracy and false statements.
• He cooperated against other defendants in the FBI's Russia investigation, most notably former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the longtime GOP strategist, both of whom were convicted in part because of information Gates provided.
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Rick Gates, the former deputy chairman of President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, was sentenced Tuesday to three years probation and 45 days in jail, to be served on weekends. He was also sentenced to pay a $20,000 fine.

Gates pleaded guilty in February 2018 to two counts of conspiracy and false statements as part of the former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

He began cooperating with Mueller's team after pleading guilty and was a star witness in the trial for Paul Manafort, Gates' longtime associate and Trump's campaign chairman. Manafort was a defendant in two separate cases from Mueller's office. In the first case, he pleaded guilty to eight out of 18 counts of tax and bank fraud and failure to report foreign bank accounts.

In the second case, Manafort pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of obstruction of justice. He is currently serving a total of seven and a half years in federal prison.

Gates also cooperated against Roger Stone, the former GOP strategist who was convicted last month of seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering, and false statements.

At Gates' sentencing hearing on Tuesday, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson went over the underlying crimes he and Manafort were initially charged with, including tax fraud, money laundering, failure to register as foreign agents, and lying to the FBI.

Then, in an apparent reference to Trump's and his allies' tendency to spin the truth, Jackson noted that $75 million in illicit funds flowed through offshore accounts controlled by Manafort and Gates, adding, "Those are facts. Those are not alleged facts. Those are not alternative facts."

But she went on to say that Gates' background is more "nuanced" than the crimes he's been accused of and pleaded guilty to.

"Gates' information alone warranted, indeed demanded further investigation from the standpoint of our national security, the integrity of our elections and the enforcement of our criminal laws," Jackson said.

She added that Gates also cooperated with Mueller in contrast with others, like Manafort and Stone, who were found to have concealed information even after agreeing to work with prosecutors.

"I believe he has in a very real way accepted responsibility for his actions," Jackson said of Gates. "He's been at this long enough and under such onerous circumstances that one can believe in the transformation."