Manafort's defense attorney grills Rick Gates about his 'secret life'

While testifying in the federal trial against Paul Manafort on Tuesday, Rick Gates admitted he had an extramarital affair while in London, but said he couldn't remember if he paid for his apartment using money he embezzled from Manafort.

Manafort is President Trump's former campaign manager, and Gates is his former associate. Manafort is accused of bank and tax fraud, and while testifying on Monday, Gates revealed the pair had 15 foreign bank accounts that were not reported to the federal government, with Manafort directing they not put the accounts on legal documents.

Gates is the prosecution's star witness, and on Tuesday, Manafort's lawyer Kevin Downing brought up "the secret life of Rick Gates," asking him if he had an apartment in London and had an affair while there. "I admitted to a previous relationship," Gates said, and revealed he had the apartment for about two months. The Washington Post reports the affair took place more than 10 years ago.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

On Monday, Gates testified that he had doctored expense reports in order to embezzle money from Manafort. Downing asked him Tuesday if he had "a scheme" developed to embezzle, and Gates said no, he "just added numbers to the reports." Gates also said he met with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office 20 times to prepare for the trial, and has "a bad memory."