DECEMBER 17 2019
Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates gets 45 days in jail
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Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates gets 45 days in jail Light sentence handed down after extensive co-operation with Robert Mueller’s Russia probe Rick Gates's lawyers said he has spent 500 hours co-operating with Robert Mueller's team, as well as other federal and state prosecutors, Kadhim Shubber in Washington DECEMBER 17 2019 Donald Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates, has been sentenced to spend a total of 45 days in jail, almost two years after he began co-operating with prosecutors who were investigating the president’s ties to Russia. In addition to the 45 days in jail, to be served intermittently, the sentence handed down by Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Tuesday included 36 months’ probation and 300 hours of “hands on” community service, in addition to a $20,000 fine. Mr Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements in February 2018 and subsequently spent hundreds of hours assisting special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. He also testified in three separate trials. Ms Jackson praised his co-operation and trial testimony, but strongly criticised the financial and lobbying crimes Mr Gates admitted. She said in lengthy remarks that she had been struggling for some time with how to appropriately sentence Mr Gates and had “real concerns” about sentencing parity. In other cases arising from Mr Mueller’s probe, Ms Jackson has given sentences ranging from as little as 14 days to several years in the case of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman with whom Mr Gates worked as a lobbyist in Ukraine before the 2016 election. Mr Gates was also a witness in the trial against Manafort, who is now serving seven and a half years in prison. The sentence for Mr Gates is one of the final acts of Mr Mueller’s probe, which closed earlier this year without establishing a criminal conspiracy between Mr Trump and the Russian government. Former prosecutors and agents who worked in the special counsel’s office appeared in court to watch the proceedings, including Greg Andres and Andrew Weissmann. Thomas Green, Mr Gates’s attorney, told the court he was “quite certain they’re here to acknowledge the contributions Mr Gates made to their ongoing investigations”. Mr Gates gave a brief statement before his sentence was handed down, saying that he accepted “completely responsibility for his actions”. Ms Jackson said in her remarks she noticed he had not tried to shirk blame, “and I respect that”. The former Trump campaign aide had been originally indicted in October 2017 on charges that he had failed to register as a foreign agent for Ukraine. He began co-operating with prosecutors after being charged with bank and tax fraud in February 2018. Mr Gates’s sentence requires him to continue to co-operate with the justice department. The charges related to his dealings with Manafort in Ukraine before they worked on the Trump campaign. Over almost a decade, Mr Gates helped Manafort conceal millions of dollars of income from the US government as they failed to disclose their lobbying activities as required by US law. Though the majority of the money involved in the case was earned by Manafort, Mr Gates transferred some $3m from offshore banks to accounts he controlled. In Mr Gates’s written sentencing submission to the court, his lawyers noted that he had spent 500 hours co-operating with Mr Mueller’s team, as well as federal and state prosecutors. He requested a sentence of probation, which the government did not oppose. In addition to testifying against Manafort, Mr Gates was a witness in the case against Gregory Craig, the former White House counsel for President Barack Obama. Mr Craig was acquitted of charges that he misled the justice department about a report he wrote for the Ukrainian government. Most recently, Mr Gates testified against Roger Stone, a longtime friend and adviser to Mr Trump. Mr Stone was convicted on charges of lying to Congress and is awaiting sentencing in February. Mr Mueller’s final report would ultimately cite Mr Gates’ testimony dozens of times as it laid out a picture of Russian contacts with members of the Trump campaign. Molly Gaston, a US prosecutor, said on Tuesday that Mr Gates had provided “extraordinary” assistance to the government and that his decision to flip in 2018 had been a “turning point”. She said he had helped the government despite pressure from Manafort not to co-operate and the intense public scrutiny surrounding the Mueller probe. “Mr Gates stands out as someone who in the midst of such an environment decided to do the right thing,” Ms Gaston told the court.
