25/02/2018 Gates’ Plea And Indictments Against Manafort May Lead Mueller Down The Road To Collusion [Opinion]

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February 24, 2018

Gates’ Plea And Indictments Against

Manafort May Lead Mueller Down The Road
To Collusion [Opinion]

WHITE HOUSE MARK WILSON / GETTY IMAGES

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS ENTIRELY THE OPINION OF GERMAN EMILIO BEARD AND DOES NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS
OF THE INQUISITR.

Last week, Special Counsel Robert Mueller revealed a 37-

page indictment against 13 Russian individuals and
corporations for interfering in American elections. And
while many saw this action as more proof that Russia
German
Emilio meddled in the elections, supporters of President Trump
Beard claimed that the indictments exonerated the Trump
Campaign of Russian collusion. This is due to the fact that
the indictments described some Russian interactions with
the Trump Campaign as “unwitting.” However, with top
Trump Campaign adviser Rick Gates pleading guilty to
financial fraud and lying to the FBI, Mueller has his sights
set on Paul Manafort, the former Trump Campaign
chairman, with numerous Russian ties and charged with
conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.

The special counsel dropped many of the charges that he

had against Gates. Indeed, Gates’ original indictment had
charges such as “Conspiracy to Launder Money,”
“Unregistered Agent of a Foreign Principal,” and
“Conspiracy Against the United States.” In exchange to
pleading for the lesser charges of lying to investigators and
financial fraud, Rick Gates will be cooperating with the
special counsel in the Russia probe, which includes the
prosecution of his friend and business partner, Paul
Manafort.

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25/02/2018 Gates’ Plea And Indictments Against Manafort May Lead Mueller Down The Road To Collusion [Opinion]

Gates’ cooperation is especially important to Manafort’s

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prosecution due to the fact that almost every criminal act
Gates admitted to doing was done in concert or on behalf
of Paul Manafort. Rick Gates’ 25-page plea document
details the millions of dollars earned by Manafort and
Gates through unregistered work for pro-Russian
Ukrainian politicians and their subsequent efforts to
launder their earnings, thus obscuring them from the
Internal Revenue Service. Manafort reacted to the news of
his business partner’s pleading with a statement.

“I continue to maintain my innocence,” said Manafort.”I

IN THE STYLE O
had hoped and expected my business colleague would F: THE 2018 SAG
have had the strength to continue the battle to prove our
innocence. For reasons yet to surface he chose to do
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Alleged hacked text messages from Manafort’s daughter Andrea called

their wealth “blood money.”
Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Unfortunately for Manafort, there is no way to assert “our

innocence,” because Rick Gates is already guilty. While
Gates lamented the possibility of dragging his family
through a public trial, our legal system only allows for
defendants to take guilty pleas because they actually admit
their criminal conduct, not because they wish to avoid a
lengthy trial. And indeed, in his 45-minute plea hearing,
TRENDING STORIES
Gates did just that; he admitted to various federal crimes
involving illicit Russian connections.

With all the evidence stacked against Manafort, it seems

unlikely that he will go to trial, where Gates will almost
certainly testify against him. Instead, many experts
theorize that Manafort will take a plea deal and volunteer CELEBRITIES
information to aid Mueller’s investigation. Yet, he is
Terry Crews Speaks Out In Support Of
remaining steadfast and declaring his innocence, which
Brendan Fraser
leads others to think that he may be angling for a pardon
by the president. If he decides to cooperate with Mueller CRIME

(which may happen post-conviction as well), the special ‘Jerry Springer Show’ Bodyguard Steve
counsel will be looking for information to go after a bigger Wilkos Charged With DUI After Lying About
Wreck For Weeks
fish. Who that is perhaps only Mueller knows. However,
the recently released House Democrat Intelligence Memo TECHNOLOGY

details that the FBI does have inquiries open concerning Reddit Refuses To Act As The_Donald
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25/02/2018 Gates’ Plea And Indictments Against Manafort May Lead Mueller Down The Road To Collusion [Opinion]

other Trump campaign-linked individuals, the names of ODD

which were redacted upon the memo’s release.

14-Year-Old Boy Claims He Has Been Laying
Eggs Since 2016, Doctors Baffled By His
While the president and his supporters keep claiming that Bizarre Condition

there is “no collusion” in every statement and public CELEBRITIES

appearance, it is clear that one of their top advisers was

Elizabeth Hurley Bikini Pics Come With
engaged in laundering money and will be instrumental in ‘Disturbing’ Revelation For Some Liz Fans
proving that the campaign chairman did the same. While
RUMORS
these events started before either of them were involved in
the Trump campaign, their money laundering activities Kate Middleton And Prince William Are
Reportedly Having Twin Girls, According To
extended into 2016, and their campaign to defraud the ‘Life & Style’
United States extended until 2017, thus including the time
which they acted as Trump campaign officials.

The most obvious piece of evidence which points to

collusion is in fact something that has been known for
months: a meeting at Trump Tower with Jared Kushner,
Donald Trump, Jr., Paul Manafort, and Kremlin-
connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. This meeting’s
main purpose was to get opposition research on Hilary
Clinton. One is left to wonder exactly how much of a part
Manafort’s Russian connections played in this meeting
and what other entanglements exists between the Trump
campaign and Russia. While there has been no “smoking
gun” related to the Russia collusion issue just yet, and it is
unknown how much the president himself knows about
the collusion, the notion that there is no evidence of the
Trump campaign officials cooperating with the Russian
government is simply false.

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25/02/2018 Gates’ Plea And Indictments Against Manafort May Lead Mueller Down The Road To Collusion [Opinion]

Mueller Indictments Show Paul Manafort, Rick Gates Ran Donald Trump Will Resign
Investigation Is ‘Following The Bank Fraud Scheme During ‘Within Two Weeks’ If Mueller
Money’ In Trump - Russia 2016 Campaign, New Robert Flips Manafort, Democratic

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