ALEXANDRIA, VA — A lawyer for the Mueller team was noncommittal Wednesday when Judge T.S. Ellis asked whether longtime Paul Manafort associate Rick Gates will testify in the trial.
“He may testify in this case, he may not,” said Uzo Asonye, a lawyer for the prosecution.
After that comment from Asonye, several people in the courtroom, likely reporters, scurried out the door.
“This was news to me,” Ellis said, adding that it was probably also news to the people who ran out of the room.
Ellis asked whether Gates would testify while quizzing Asonye on the reasoning behind asking the witness, the FBI agent who conducted the search of Manafort’s Virginia condo, about certain documents. Ellis, in asking whether Gates would testify, suggested that later witnesses might be able to speak to the documents.
When he left it open whether Gates would testify, Asonye seemed to be playing coy, likely not wanting to give a heads up about a key witness and perhaps also because he wanted to continue asking the FBI agent about the documents. Asonye also mentioned that Ellis asked the lawyers to try to cull witnesses, apparently suggesting that asking the agent about the documents may eliminate the need for additional witnesses to take the stand.
Manafort is facing bank and tax fraud charges in the first trial brought forward in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty. The charges against Manafort center on lobbying work he did in Ukraine — work that predates the 2016 presidential campaign, when he served as Donald Trump’s campaign chairman.
Manafort’s legal team previewed his defense on the opening day of the trial Tuesday by throwing Gates under the bus, claiming that Manafort’s longtime deputy violated his trust.
“Unfortunately for Paul Manafort, his trust in Rick Gates was misplaced,” Manafort attorney Thomas Zehnle told the jury.
Gates was originally charged along with Manafort, but he eventually reached a plea deal and agreed to cooperate with the government. Gates was widely expected to be a star witness in the prosecution’s case.
Wednesday marks the second day of the trial here, which is expected to run for about three weeks.
They might not need him if the other witnesses sufficiently identify and describe the documentary evidence, and Manafort’s intent, knowledge and direct actions are made clear. Then how will the defense prove their defense that it was all Gates, with Manafort being in the dark? Put Gates on themselves? Not such a good idea to vouch for his credibility and let the prosecutors cross-examine. Put Manafort on the stand to “explain”? An even worse idea.
He’s fucked.
That is pretty much the same take I had. Since they have announced their primary defense, let them prove it. You might keep Gates in reserve for rebuttal.
Is it possible that Gates is a red herring witness? Gates was an obvious selection as a witness, so there was no harm in identifying him. Perhaps Mueller & Co. tricked Manafort and his team into wasting a lot of time and energy constructing and revealing a SODDIT defense against Gates, whom Mueller may not call to testify at all. As @ronbyers suggested, Gates could also be a rebuttal witness, if needed, rather than the heart of Mueller’s case.
I doubt this is the case. I just like spinning fantasies. Plus, I read far too many spy novels.
WaPo reports that Ellis added, noticing reporters leaving the courtroom to report on the status of the prosecution effort, “Twenty-five people just scurried out of here like rats leaving a sinking ship.”
Say wot? This judge, he’s creeping me out …
“I paid my four bits to see the high-diving act and I’m a-gonna see the high-diving act.”