Former Trump-campaign aide Rick Gates was sentenced on Tuesday to 45 days in prison and a $20,000 fine for lying to federal investigators and for participation in a criminal financial scheme.
Gates had hoped to avoid prison time due to his extensive cooperation with the Mueller probe into alleged collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian operatives. The probe eventually found there was not sufficient evidence to charge the campaign with collusion.
However, Gates did help Mueller’s team bring cases against Trump advisers Paul Manafort and Roger Stone on separate charges. Gates testified in court against both men. Manafort is serving a seven-year prison sentence for various crimes including tax and bank fraud, and Stone was convicted in November of witness tampering and obstruction of justice related to the Mueller investigation itself. Stone is currently awaiting sentencing.
“I greatly regret the mistakes I have made and I have worked hard to honor my commitment to make amends,” Gates said in court on Friday. Gates’s lawyer Thomas Green said on Tuesday that there were FBI agents present with them in the courtroom.
“I am quite certain they are here to acknowledge the genuine contributions that Mr. Gates made to their continuing investigations,” Green said.
The FBI investigations into the Trump campaign came under scrutiny earlier this month with the publication of Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on FBI attempts to obtain a FISA warrant to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The report outlined “at least 17 significant errors” in the agency’s efforts to obtain a FISA warrant, and led Senate Republicans to begin working on reforms to the FISA process.