The most critical moment in the financial
fraud trial of former
Trump campaign chairman
Paul Manafort will likely arrive this week with the testimony of his “right-hand man” — the person defence attorneys blame for any crimes.
Rick Gates, who also served in a senior role in U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign, has been a key co-operator for special counsel Robert Mueller’s team after he cut a plea deal earlier this year. During that process, Gates admitted to two felony charges, but when he testifies it will be the first time he’ll detail those crimes face-to-face with his former boss and mentor.
The trial, set to resume Monday afternoon in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, is the first of Mueller’s prosecutions to reach a jury. But lawyers have made no mention of Trump or possible campaign co-ordination with the Kremlin, the central question behind the special counsel’s investigation.
Still, Trump has made clear his interest in the case, suggesting in a tweet that Manafort was being treated worse than gangster Al Capone. And Manafort’s decision to stand trial instead of co-operate has raised speculation that he may be looking for a pardon.
The trial opened last week with a display of Manafort’s opulent lifestyle, then progressed into testimony about what prosecutors say were years of financial deception. In calling Gates, the government will present jurors with the first-hand account of a co-conspirator expected to say Manafort was knee-deep in an alleged scheme to hide millions of dollars from the IRS and defraud several banks.
Manafort’s defence team has already signalled that it will paint Gates as an embezzler and liar who took advantage of Manafort and flouted the law without his boss’s knowledge. Gates is expected to face bruising cross-examination, and his credibility is likely to be an important test of the prosecution’s case.