Rick Gates admits extra-marital affair...paid with money embezzled from Manafort

[brooklynite]

Link to tweet

[PoliticAverse]

1. Not your ideal star witness. n/t

[LandOfHopeAndDreams]

2. His Personal Activities Are Irrelevant

He's a criminal, but the difference between him & Paul is that he was willing to come clean on everything once the picture was clear to him.

[PoliticAverse]

6. I don't think I'd call stealing money from the defendant "irrelevant". A witness's criminal

activity is certainly relevant especially when it got almost all of it to go away in exchange for his testimony
against Manafort. Personal activites are relevant when they speak to credibility/honesty. He lied to his wife,
he lied to Manafort, why believe him now?

[SunSeeker]

8. Why believe any criminal informant?

You realize criminal informants are by definition criminals, right? That is why they have the goods on their fellow co-conspirators. If juries disregarded guys like this, we would have never been able to convict mob bosses, crooked CEOs, etc. Juries obviously don't disregard such testimony.

[PoliticAverse]

10. "Why believe any criminal informant?" - That's a good question. I wonder what the 12 jury members wi

be deciding about this one. We'll find out. But at least you seem to be acknowledging that criminal informants
aren't "idea star witness"es.

[SunSeeker]

11. Are you actually suggesting juries disregard criminal informants' testimony?

You do realize they form the bedrock of mob convictions, right?

[PoliticAverse]

13. Do you know what the word "ideal" means? To point out something has flaws is not to dismiss its

entire value.

[SunSeeker]

16. Well duh. Then what was the point of your post? Do YOU think he should not be believed? nt

[PoliticAverse]

22. I think the corroborating testimony of less flawed witnesses and actual physical evidence...

will make his believability not a critical issue.

But my opinion doesn't matter ultimately, only the opinion of the 12 people on the jury does.

[SunSeeker]

24. So you won't answer the question?

You suggest the jury won't believe him, but you won't answer whether or not you believe his testimony.

Odd.

Not me. I believe him. His testimony is corroberated by documentary evidence and puts color and context to the crimes that evidence reveals, so it should help the prosecution to convict.

[PoliticAverse]

25. I didn't suggest he wouldn't be ultimately believed by the jury. And as to my opinion on his...

believably, (1) I haven't heard all the testimony (nor has anyone else outside the courtroom) and more
importantly (2) It's doesn't really matter whether I believe him or not because I am not on the jury.

[SunSeeker]

26. Ah, but you apparently heard enough to lament that he is not the "ideal witness."

Got it.

[PoliticAverse]

28. Which, as we all can agree, he isn't. n/t

[SunSeeker]

30. He's the ideal witness against Manafort, being his right hand man.

Your duly noted concerns notwithstanding.

[pnwmom]

9. Why believe him now? Because of a mountain of paperwork confirming his testimony,

with Manafort's signature all over the place; and the testimony of others, including two accountants who said Manafort hid 15 foreign bank accounts; and Tad Devine, who said Manafort paid great attention to every detail.

[Jersey Devil]

31. Right! With the paper he is corroborated. Without it I doubt it.

Gates looks like a sleeze but the emails, etc. back him up.

[tavernier]

12. Mueller wanted to interview all the choir boys in Manafort's circle of friends

but it turns out there weren’t any.

[PoliticAverse]

14. Diogenes would have given up quickly, I think. n/t

[notdarkyet]

29. Manafort stole the money he had, from banks, countries. No honor among thieves.

[SunSeeker]

7. No informant is. No one who flips on a perp has a clean background.

But your concern is duly noted.

[gratuitous]

18. I know!

Why can't criminals associate with a better, more trustworthy, sort of people? All this unsavory testimony. So unseemly. Having to depend on the word of a man who stole thousands from a guy who stole millions. Distasteful.

[SunSeeker]

27. LOL

[LiberalFighter]

35. Probably difficult to get a clean Republican star witness.

[Oneironaut]

36. That's the problem with all racketeering-like cases, if you think about it.

The star witnesses are usually criminals who “flipped.”

[awesomerwb1]

3. Was that from a question from Manafort's lawyer? nt

[janx]

21. Yes. And CNN reports it a bit differently,

though it hardly makes any difference.

Gates admits to affair (but denies he embezzled money to fund it)
From CNN's Kara Scannell

In court, Rick Gates admitted to having an extramarital affair a decade ago, but disputed the contention from Manafort’s lawyer that he was embezzling money in order to fund his affair.

Manafort’s defense lawyer raised Gates’ affair by telling jurors that Gates had a “secret life,” living in London and other cities and using Manafort’s money in offshore accounts to pay for the relationships.

Gates acknowledged the affair, but he bickered with Manafort’s attorney over where the money came from, suggesting it was money from bonuses.

Downing also raised the prospect that Gates reimbursed personal expenses from the Trump inauguration. Gates said he could not recall whether he did so, but conceded it was possible.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/manafort-trial/h_f7f14c2ef7a6612b8250248758f30170

[SharonAnn]

4. "Set a crook, to catch a crook".

[NightWatcher]

5. ... when you're all out of fucks to give, and you just don't want to die in prison.

Nice catch, DOJ.

[SunSeeker]

17. Wow. You sure are mad at Gates for doing the right thing and spilling on Manafort.

Odd.

[TeamPooka]

20. I heard people saying that on Fox News at the tire store

interesting that you'd say it here.

[PoliticAverse]

23. We won't know how willing Manafort is to "keep his mouth shut" until some time in the future...

like, say, after sentencing.

[H2O Man]

32. darned him!

[TeamPooka]

19. Just another Republican.

[Sneederbunk]

33. Gates is not evidence. He corroborates the evidence.

[marylandblue]

34. Sammy the Bull Gravano turned on John Gotti

He murdered 19 people and the jury believed him. So, in comparison, yes, Gates is an almost ideal witness.

[Johonny]

37. You mean the guy helping Manafort launder and steal money, was dishonest?

color me shocked.