Richard Gates, former top campaign aide to Trump, pleads guilty in Russia investigation

Richard W. Gates III, who helped manage Donald Trump's presidential campaign after making millions of dollars advising Ukraine's pro-Kremlin government, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy against the United States and lying to federal agents, becoming the latest former Trump aide to cooperate with prosecutors in the sprawling Russia investigation.

The guilty plea is unusual because court papers reveal that Gates lied to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and the FBI as recently as Feb. 1, when he already was negotiating with prosecutors about the raft of criminal charges he was facing.

Gates' original three lawyers applied to withdraw from the case the same day, a hint of a behind-the-scenes personal drama that preceded Friday's denouement. Gates, 45, looked haggard, with dark circles under his eyes, when he appeared in court before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson.


Source : latimes