Washington (CNN) Former Donald Trump campaign official Rick Gates pleaded guilty Friday to two criminal charges in special counsel Robert Mueller's wide-ranging investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign and related activities. Gates is now the third Trump associate known to be working with Mueller's investigation, and his plea deal will put the spotlight on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Gates, 45, was Manafort's right-hand man for a decade, was privy to most, if not all, of Manafort's activities during the campaign and stayed in the Trump orbit after Manafort's exit. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have already pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about their interactions with Russians and agreed to cooperate. "Acting on the authority of Mr. Manafort, [Gates] routinely dealt with Mr. Manafort's tax accountants" and misled them, prosecutor Greg Andres described to the judge.

Source: CNN February 23, 2018 17:11 UTC