Gates on the witness stand

Rick Gates, the ex-Trump campaign aide and Paul Manafort’s business partner, is on the witness stand for the third day in Manafort’s first criminal trial. Ken White and Josh Barro talk through the revelations in his testimony, and what might be most convincing to the jury, since most of those revelations are backed up in the paper trail. Plus, why is Judge T.S. Ellis III getting so involved in the trial? Ken gives his analysis (“it’s typical”), and tells Josh about other typical federal court moments. For good measure, Josh and Ken check in on Michael Avenatti, Michael Cohen, and Trump’s tweet last week about the Trump Tower meeting that was — in fact, according to the president — about getting information about Hillary Clinton, but he didn’t know about it. Finally, collusion still isn’t a crime. But it doesn’t mean there wasn’t another crime.

Image: Rick Gates, former campaign aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, departs after a bond hearing at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., December 11, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts