Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to delay scheduling a sentencing date for former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates because of his continuing cooperation, according to a court filing Monday.
The government also cited the upcoming trials of former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig and ex-Trump associate Roger Stone as other reasons to postpone sentencing.
However, prosecutors did not say if that was because Gates is cooperating in those cases or just that the judge overseeing all three cases has a busy docket this fall.
“As a result, the parties do not believe that a sentencing date should be set at this time,” wrote Jessie K. Liu, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
The one-page joint status report was filed with Gates’ legal team and noted that he “continues to cooperate.”
Gates was indicted alongside his longtime business partner Paul Manafort in October 2017. He pleaded guilty in February 2018 and agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
He was the key witness at the financial crimes trial of Manafort, once President Trump’s campaign chairman. Previous court filings said Gates also provided information on “several ongoing investigations.”
Prosecutors have repeatedly asked to postpone Gates’ sentencing, signaling that is still useful to their investigations. Although Mr. Mueller wrapped up his probe in March, federal prosecutors are plowing ahead with several cases that stemmed from that investigation.
Mr. Craig was indicated in April for making false statements to investigators and concealing the work he did for Ukrainian officials. He worked with Gates while promoting Russian-backed Ukrainian politicians in the United States.
That case was referred to prosecutors in New York by Mueller’s team before it boomeranged back to Washington, D.C, where charges were filed. His trial is scheduled for August 12.
In a separate case, Mr. Stone was charged by the special counsel in January with lying to Congress about his efforts to contact WikiLeaks, along with obstruction and witness tampering.
The Mueller team has handed the case off to Ms. Liu’s office and a trial is set for Nov. 5.
Both Mr. Stone and Mr. Craig have pled not guilty.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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