FILE PHOTO: Rick Gates, former campaign aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, departs after a bond hearing at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., December 11, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Thursday said they plan to call Rick Gates, a long-time business partner of President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, as a witness in a criminal trial that began this week against Manafort.

“We have absolutely put him on the list,” Greg Andres, a member of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team said. “We have every intention of calling him as a witness.”