A former campaign advisor to today's US President Donald Trump has been jailed for 45 days. The United States media reported that a federal court sentence in Washington against Rick Gates was unanimous. Gates pleaded guilty to financial crimes and lied to the FBI federal police last February under an agreement with U.S. special investigator Robert Mueller. Gates had cooperated with Mueller in his Russia investigation.
Mueller had, among other things, investigated whether there had been secret agreements between the Trump team and representatives of Russia in the 2016 election campaign. He found no evidence of this. The allegations that Gates admitted come from well before the election campaign. At that time, Gates and Trump's later campaign manager Paul Manafort had obscured millions in lobbying revenues for Ukraine.
Gates had testified against his former boss Manafort, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence. He also testified against Trump advisor Roger Stone, who was convicted last month for false testimony before Congress. A sentence has not yet been announced. Six people connected to Trump's campaign team have been convicted of crime or have pleaded guilty since 2017.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the prosecutor's office did not request gates to be detained. Judge Amy Berman Jackson was still sentenced to prison. The CNN broadcaster reported that Gates may serve his prison sentence over a three-year probation period on weekends. He also had to pay a $ 20,000 fine and do 300 hours of community service. According to CNN, Gates said: "I take full responsibility for my actions."