The plea deal is expected to require Rick Gates (pictured) to cooperate with robert Mueller's prosecution of Gates' former business partner, Paul Manafort, who served as chairman of President Donald Trump's campaign in the summer of 2016. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates expected to offer guilty plea Longtime aide to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has cut a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller, sources say.

Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates has agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and is expected to plead guilty in his pending criminal case over money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent, according to people familiar with the deal.

Gates’ plea could be offered to U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington as soon as Friday afternoon, these people said – a day after prosecutors filed new charges against Gates in Virginia.


The plea deal is expected to require Gates to cooperate with Mueller's prosecution of Gates' former business partner, Paul Manafort, who served as chairman of President Donald Trump's campaign in the summer of 2016.

Gates served as a deputy to Manafort when he ran the Trump campaign from June to August of 2016. Gates then reportedly continued to work in a liaison role between the campaign and the Republican National Committee, although precisely what he did in that capacity is unclear.

While defendants entering into plea deals are typically required to provide information about everything prosecutors have under investigation, it's unclear how much insight Gates has into the core issues being investigated by Mueller: how Russia allegedly sought to influence the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump campaign officials or American Trump backers colluded with such efforts.

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New criminal bank fraud and tax charges issued Thursday by a grand jury in Alexandria, Va allege that Gates filed false tax returns for several years and was directly involved in providing what prosecutors say was doctored financial information used to apply for $20 million in bank loans Manafort obtained.

Those new bank and tax fraud charges were in addition to the indictment Mueller's team obtained last October, accusing Manafort and Gates of using a vast web of offshore bank accounts to launder funds they received for work done on behalf of Ukraine's government and the political party of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

A spokesman for Mueller's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported deal with Gates.

Manafort's attorneys also did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Jackson has imposed a gag order limiting public statements by the defendants and by the lawyers involved in the D.C. case.