Judge irked by Gates legal defense fundraiser

A sparsely-attended gathering to raise money for the legal defense of Rick Gates, a lobbyist and former Trump campaign official facing trial in a high-profile money laundering prosecution stemming from the ongoing Russia probe, has landed Gates in hot water with the federal judge overseeing the case.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued an order Friday instructing Gates to explain why his comments in a brief, videotaped address to the fundraiser held in Arlington, Va. Tuesday did not amount to a violation of the gag order she issued in the case last month. Jackson also questioned Gates' involvement with the eccentric Washington-area lobbyist who organized the event, Jack Burkman.


"Defendant Gates is ORDERED to show cause by December 27, 2017 why the Court should not find that his reported personal participation in the creation of a fundraising video to be shown to journalists and disseminated on social media, in which, according to multiple press accounts, defendant makes reference to 'the cause' and the goal of 'ensuring that our supporters from across the United States hear our message and stand with us,' would not violate this Court's [gag] order," the judge wrote in an order docketed Friday morning.

Press reports say journalists outnumbered potential donors at the Tuesday event, held in a Holiday Inn function room.

In a video recorded for the event, Gates delivered what appeared to be scripted remarks that acknowledged that the gag order limited what he could say.

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"I am both grateful and humbled that you would come out this evening in such a strong show of support. I am thankful for your generosity and kindness beyond words," a low-key Gates said in the recording, which lasted just over a minute and was posted on Facebook by a publicity agent who works with Burkman and Gates. "Despite not being with you in person tonight, I wanted to make sure I had an opportunity to say thank you for your support and for your belief in my cause....As you may be aware there is a gag order in the case, so I am not able to talk specifically about the case. However, I can say that because of people like you, we will have the resources to fight."

Jackson's order went on to instruct Gates to "explain the nature of his relationship" with Burkman. She noted he called the prosecution " very unfair" at the event in the presence of journalists. The judge also asked if Burkman is acting on behalf of Gates' lawyers.

The judge emphasized that her attention to the fundraising event did not mean she was trying to squelch public discussion about the case or prevent Gates from raising funds for his defense.

"The Court emphasizes that it is not intimating that the creation of a legal defense fund or the expression of personal views by third parties not acting at the behest of the defense would violate its order," wrote Jackson, an appointee of President Barack Obama.

Burkman lashed out at the judge over the order, calling it an effort to intimidate him and Gates.

"I'm highly upset....I see this as a pretty systematic, deliberate and concerted effort to take away not only Rick's First Amendment rights, but now mine," he told POLITICO Friday. "This is pretty direct intimidation by the judge. She's trying to create a situation where somebody like me is afraid to speak, almost with the underlying threat that Bob Mueller will hurt me, God knows why or how. It's beginning to give the appearance of very overt and direct collusion between the judge and the prosecutor ... Do we now live in Stalin's Russia?"

Burkman, who was in the news earlier this year for promoting a conspiracy theory about the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich, called Gates's recorded speech "careful, measured and balanced." Burkman said he'd not discussed the judge's order with Gates and was simply trying to help out someone with "a wife, four kids, bail, and legal bills."

The press spokesman for Gates, Glenn Selig, did not respond to a request for comment on the judge's order. Gates' attorneys also did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose office is prosecuting Gates, declined to comment.

Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort were indicted in October on charges of money laundering, failing to report foreign bank accounts, and failing to register as foreign agents for Ukraine. They entered not guilty pleas. No trial date has been set in the case, although the judge has floated the possibility of a trial beginning in May.

The case has no public connection to the core issue Mueller is investigating: whether Trump campaign officially illegally colluded with Russia during last year's presidential election.

Jackson appears intent on policing compliance with the gag order she issued last month, but she has yet to find any violation.

Prosecutors complained to the judge recently after Manafort helped edit an op-ed favorable to his position that was being submitted to a Kiev newspaper. The judge gave the veteran lobbyist and international political consultant a tongue-lashing over his actions, but ultimately let the matter go.

Burkman said the gag order was a mistake from the outset.

"This is what happens when judges issue orders that they shouldn't issue in the first place. Then they have to double down on something that's absurd," he said. "Now, she's in no man's land."

The terms of the gag order do not prohibit all public comments about the case but only those likely to be prejudicial to the jury that may eventually be seated.

"This is a criminal trial, and it's not a public relations campaign," Jackson warned at a hearing last month.