The Rick Gates indictment

Rick Gates was an associate of Paul Manafort. Yesterday, he was indicted along with Manafort. Gates’ indictment received little attention.

Like Manafort, though, he is a candidate for squeezing by Mueller’s team. Indeed, he may be a better candidate.

The Washington Post says President Trump’s advisers have expressed concern about Gates because he has a young family, may be more stretched financially than Manafort, and continued to be involved in Trump’s political operation after Manafort departed in August 2016. In addition, he had access to the Trump White House, though not to Trump, and apparently attended West Wing meetings after the president was sworn in.

Incidentally, the same Washington Post story, written by Robert Costa, Philip Rucker, and Ashley Parker, purports to provide an inside look at how Trump reacted to coverage of the indictments yesterday morning. Let’s just say the president was not pleased.

The Post’s trio claims to base its report on “interviews with 20 senior administration officials, Trump friends, and key outside allies.” It doesn’t say how many of each the three reporters talked with.

However, as just noted, the story purports to recount Trump’s real time reaction as he “listened intently to cable news commentary and, with rising irritation, watched live footage. . .Manafort turning himself in to the FBI.” Thus, some of the Post’s sources must be close to the president.

Which of Trump’s confidants described unflatteringly his state of mind to Washington Post reporters and why? Maybe General Kelly should look into this, assuming he’s not one of the Post’s sources.

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