To Plea Or Not To Plea

Daphne Barak goes behind the scenes of the Mueller report into Russian interference in the US Presidential election, revealing how one of the key witnesses was turned by the special counsel, and how the ordeal affected his life.

On the morning the first indictments of the Mueller investigation were handed down, Rick Gates had two choices: either stand trial for thirty-two counts of serious federal crimes, all of which concerned work with Paul Manafort, or take a plea deal and surrender himself to the special counsel. having been abandoned by Manafort and forced to stand for his crimes alone, gates took the deal.

Then the real trouble began.

As soon as Gates pled guilty, Barak writes, he became the property of the special counsel’s office. He was forced to be “on call” at all times, and he gave more than 300 hours of recorded testimony. He was forced to abandon his cancer-stricken wife in her time of need, and gave up valuable time with his children. But with the help of his friends and family, he came out the other side stronger, finally ready to tell his story for the first time.