Palmer Report recently noted the sudden and significant uptick in media buzz about Donald Trump’s associates being worried about the testimony of Rick Gates. This seemed oddly timed, considering that Gates pleaded guilty more than a month ago, and nothing significant had leaked about him since. Perhaps they’d been tipped off to something a bit early, because newly released court documents filed by Robert Mueller reveal that Gates has admitted that he and Paul Manafort were knowingly conspiring with a former Russian intelligence officer while they were running the Donald Trump campaign.

It was first revealed in Mueller’s earlier court filings against attorney Alex van der Zwaan that a mysterious “Person A” had been in communication with Gates and Manafort. Mueller’s new filing against van der Zwaan still doesn’t reveal the mystery person’s identity, but it does confirm that Person A is an ex Russian intel agent, and that Gates and Manafort knew as much when they were communicating with him during the general election, lasting through October of 2016 – just before Election Day.

Manafort was the Trump campaign chairman for part of this stretch, and Gates was a Trump campaign deputy chairman for all of this stretch, meaning that they were acting on Donald Trump’s behalf. Person A is said to still be unofficially working for the Russian intel community, which means that the Trump campaign conspired with Russian spooks with regard to the election.

That’s treason. Robert Mueller would need to legally establish that the Russian election hacking was an act of war in order to bring treason charges, or he can stick with the peacetime rough equivalent charge, conspiracy against the United States. But when it comes to the popularly accepted definition of the word, Rick Gates has confessed that he and Paul Manafort committed treason on Donald Trump’s behalf. What did Trump know, and when did he know it? You can read Mueller’s lengthy new court filing here.