Today taught us a lot about how Donald Trump will go down
There it was. For the first time today, one of Donald Trump’s own top people was on the witness stand, testifying in front of a jury and a room full of reporters that he and another top Trump person were both criminals. All that Rick Gates had to do was speak one word – “Yes” – when he was asked whether he and Paul Manafort had committed a string of crimes together, and it set off a firestorm. It also painted a roadmap for how Trump goes down.
The Rick Gates moment was such a big deal because it’s the first time we’ve gotten to see a Trump person flipping on another Trump person. It wasn’t televised, and Gates isn’t even a big name, even though he played an important role in the Trump campaign. But it was still a watershed moment because we finally got a hint of what’s been going on behind the curtain all this time. The key word is “hint.”
When you cut a plea deal, you have to sell out everyone involved. You have to do it immediately, too. The testimony we’re now hearing from Rick Gates about Paul Manafort is the same testimony that Gates privately gave about Manafort to Special Counsel Robert Mueller months ago. In fact this is only a fraction of it, because this trial isn’t focused on Trump-Russia at all. More importantly, Gates has already told Mueller everything he knows about Donald Trump’s crimes – and he’s not the only one.
Michael Flynn, who not only played a key role in the Trump campaign and Trump transition team, but also spent a month holding a key role in the Trump White House, has also told Mueller everything he knows about Donald Trump’s crimes. The only reason we haven’t yet seen Flynn take the witness stand is that it’s not his time yet. That’s before getting to George Papadopoulos, as well as any other key players who may have flipped on Trump in secret. It’ll be this kind of eyewitness testimony from plea deal people that takes Trump down. Today’s Rick Gates moment was just a teaser for how this will go.
