What is up with Rick Gates having problems with his lawyers? Dies it mean they found out he lied to them? That he won’t accept their advice to plead? That they are part of the deep state, pizza parlor, killed Vincent Foster conspiracy,
Clients lie to their criminal defense attorneys all the time. That alone is not reason to cause them to seek to withdraw from representation. Since they said that wanted to close the courtroom to go into the reasoning behind their motion and that it might cause embarrassment, it could be a funding issue.
Same with rejecting advice to take a plea deal - clients have the right and power to make stupid goal decisions about their case and reject good plea offers in order to risk it all at trial. A trial would likely mean more money for the attorneys, who of course bill by the hour and a trial such as this involving fraud and money laundering would eat up a lot of hours for a lot of defense attorneys and their support staff.
Even if the case ends in a plea agreement, that would drag out the representation potentially just the same as a trial would since there would still be the need for further meetings between the special counsel’s office and Gates plus representation at his sentencing many months down the road after he completes whatever information providing or testimonial role that a plea deal might require in this case.
A lot of what Gates is doing seems consistent with trying to negotiate a plea deal.
Gates doesn’t have a ton of money or political backers so his options are limited. He may see himself ending up bankrupt no matter which way this goes and he’s choosing the path of least resistance to get this over with.
That’s what recent news articles are speculating: that Gates is close to a deal, will testify against Manafort in exchange for a sentence of 18 months or so.
That in turn will put pressure on Manafort …
“Trump-Russia Inquiry: Manafort under pressure after reports Gates has flipped.”