Thread by @ZoeTillman

Manafort Trial Day 6: Rick Gates is back on the stand. Prosecutors said they expected to need about three more hours with him today -- and then we'll have cross-examination by Manafort's lawyers. On all the news from yesterday: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil… Stay tuned.

Judge is taking a quick break. Rick Gates has been back on the stand. We saw examples of agreements that Gates said were between Manafort's Cypriot companies and various Ukrainian businessmen, incl. the amount of money to paid to the overseas accounts (in the millions of dollars)

Gates said that a Cypriot law firm would set up the various shelf companies (not "shell") for Manafort under different names, and they wouldn't have Manafort or Gates' names on them — they would have directors and board members, who were also members of the Cypriot law firm

Gates said that after Viktor Yanukovych left power, work dried up for Manafort, and we saw emails between Gates and their associate Konstantin Kilimnik about trying to collect money still owed (recall that prosecutors allege Manafort engaged in bank fraud to keep up his $ flow)

We got an explanation for the funny-looking invoices re: US vendors Manafort did business with — Gates said when they moved $ from Cyprus to the Grenadines, those banks needed more documentation to make wire transfers, so Gates would create invoices under Manafort's account names

That is, the US vendors would submit invoices to Manafort with Manafort's name on them, but to transfer money from Manafort-controlled entities in the Grenadines, the invoices had to have the name of that entity. So Gates would create one

Gates repeatedly said that he created the agreements with the Ukrainian businessmen and initiated and facilitated wire transfers from the overseas accounts at Manafort's direction (with the exception being the money that Gates said he stole from Manafort)

Up next: More from Gates. Prosecutor said they expect to need about two more hours (the judge told them to try to hurry it up)

We're out for lunch. We heard more from Rick Gates about overseas accounts that Gates said Manafort controlled. Gates said he never had "overt" discussions with Manafort about hiding accounts from US authorities, but the intent was clear from how they talked about/managed them

Before I get into the details of that: We had a Trump reference. It wasn't spoken, it was in an agenda for a March 2013 mtg involving Manafort and Gates displayed to the courtroom. In a section about Yankees season tickets, one line read: "tickets going to Trump next week"

There wasn't any discussion of that, beyond Gates generally testifying that Manafort had Yankees season tickets. So we don't know which Trump that line was referring to. But so far Trump's name hasn't come up (recall this trial is against his former campaign manager)

In testifying about his work status, Gates told the jury today that he worked for Manafort's consulting/lobbying company until around March 2016, when he went to work for a presidential campaign — as was true yesterday, he didn't name the candidate. He did say Manafort hired him

Back to the $: Gates testified Manafort was upset when he found out his taxes for 2014 would be higher than expected. We saw one email from Manafort that included, "WTF?" Gates testified that at Manafort's direction, he created a phony loan agreement, turning income into a loan

This loan agreement was about money that Gates said was income from a company called Telmar, which he said was controlled by a Ukrainian businessman, Sergey Levochkin

By early 2016, Gates said he did not believe Manafort was earning any income, and was having trouble paying his bills. Vendors who did work for Manafort were reaching out about money owed, he said. Around this time, Gates said Manafort started applying for bank loans

Gates said he was the point person for collecting documents to submit to banks as part of Manafort's applications. Did Gates submit false info, prosecutor asked. Yes, Gates said. Did Manafort know? Yes, Gates said. At Manafort's direction, he said he doctored documents

Circling back on that reference to a "Trump" in the Manafort/Gates agenda and the Yankees season tickets. Another reporter has noted that this could be a reference to the apartment Manafort owned at the time *in* Trump Tower. So it could be a place, not a person. We don't know.

Back to the bank loans: Gates testified that he helped Manafort secure and submit documents that falsely indicated one of the properties he owned did not have a mortgage on it, when in fact it did (he said they sent an older version of an insurance policy)

Gates then testified about creating a phony loan forgiveness agreement between an entity called Peranova — which he says was controlled by Manafort — and Manafort's biz. By forgiving the loan, it meant Manafort no longer had that listed as a liability in applying for a bank loan

Gates testified Manafort knew what he was doing, and was included in at least some of the emails about the phony loan forgiveness document. That's when we broke for lunch. Govt says they have less than an hour to go with Gates, and then we'll have cross-examination. Stay tuned.

On another break. We're into the defense cross-x of Rick Gates. Right before the break, Manafort's lawyer asked Gates if the special counsel's office asked him about his time on Trump's campaign. Gates began to answer, and then the prosecutor objected, and they went to the bench

We don't know the outcome of that conversation at the bench about the Trump campaign question -- after the lawyers went back to their seats, the judge said we'd be taking a break

Before that all happened, Manafort's lawyer Kevin Downing was probing Gates about various crimes he admitted to or was accused of — Gates disputed some of the details, and at times said that he didn't recall exactly what he told the special counsel's office during his meetings

Gates at times seemed to hedge on whether he made false statements to the special counsel's office — he pleaded guilty to that in his plea deal — saying he "struggled" during interviews to recall information. Pressed by the judge, Gates said he did provide false info to the govt

When Downing questioned Gates about info he gave the special counsel's office, and why he wasn't recalling what he said, Gates said he hadn't seen the notes taken from those meetings, which is what the defense is relying on

For ex: There were questions about several hundred dollars that Gates said he received as a bonus from Manafort that he used to make investments. Downing questioned whether it was actually a bonus — Gates said it was

Downing asked Gates to ID which transfers from Manafort's overseas accounts were unauthorized — that is, when did Gates steal from his boss (which Gates has admitted to doing). Gates said he couldn't tell from the list in front of him which transfers were legit and which weren't

After working on Trump's campaign, Rick Gates worked on Trump's inauguration. Downing asked if he ever submitted personal expenses for reimbursement to the inauguration committee — Gates at first said he couldn't recall if he told prosecutors that, but then said it was "possible"

Downing then started asking Gates if he led a "secret" life — Gates said that about a decade ago, he had a secret relationship (Gate is married, but no one ever used the word "affair" or offered details about that). But he disputed using $ from the overseas accounts to fund that

Overall, I would describe the vibe between Manafort's lawyer and Rick Gates as quietly tense (not that this is surprising). No real heated exchanges between them so far, mostly Downing seeming incredulous when Gates would say he couldn't recall certain information. Stay tuned.

We're done for the day. More soon, but in the meantime a few things:
- No more Qs about the Trump campaign
- More disagreement between Manafort's lawyer and Gates about what he stole from Manafort and for what purpose
- Why did Gates steal? He said he was living beyond his means

Manafort's lawyer to Gates: "After all the lies you've told, you expect this jury to believe you?

"Yes," Gates replied. He said he was "here to tell the truth," and was accepting responsibility. Manafort's lawyer questioned if seeking probation is really accepting responsibility

Day 6: Rick Gates testified today that it's "possible" he stole from Trump's inauguration committee. That came out during his cross examination by Paul Manafort's lawyer, who asked Gates about lying, stealing, and having an extramarital relationship buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Before Paul Manafort's trial began, the judge had said he didn't want it to become about politics. But with Trump's former campaign chair on trial, and his former deputy campaign chair testifying as a witness, politics seeped in today buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…