The evidence on Manafort is blatant and damning. If I can purchase documents for his Cyprus shell companies and find incriminating evidence, then it’s a slam dunk for prosecutors. It’s black and white. He’s going to prison for the rest of his life.
Whether or not he cooperates on the collusion aspect of the probe is pretty much irrelevant. He’s cooked on money laundering and tax fraud. Gates guilty plea has very minimal impact on Manafort. It’s a question of what kind of legacy Manafort wants to leave.
He can cooperate, grow old outside of prison, and spend his life running from the Russian mob or he can die in prison.
Both are horrible options but it’s hard to feel any sympathy for a guy who sold out his country to the Russian mob. He can salvage some of his reputation if he cooperates with Mueller. If not, it doesn’t particularly matter in the grand scheme of things. Gates knows what he knows
His cooperation would likely speed things up and strengthen the case against more senior members of the Trump campaign/White House. That’s why Mueller would want a guilty plea. But in proving possible wrongdoing by the campaign, Manafort’s cooperation isn’t critical.
