Prosecutors in the Paul Manafort trial affirmed Thursday that they

have “every intention” to call the former political consulting titan’s

righthand man, Rick Gates, to testify against him.

The prosecution was probably always going to call Rick Gates to

testify against Paul Manafort — even though U.S. attorney Uzo Asonye

threw that plan into question the day before.

It’s important to understand the context of Asonye’s answer to Judge

T.S. Ellis III that Gates “may testify” against his former boss, but

“he may not.”

Asonye was answering a question from the judge on why the prosecution

was entering a piece of evidence Wednesday that another witness —

Gates — would testify about later in the trial.

“The judge put [the prosecution] on the spot, and they didn’t want to

make a definitive decision one way or the other in the moment,” a

former U.S. prosecutor who has worked on similar tax evasion cases

told Roll Call.