3rd LD Writethru: Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates pleads guilty in Mueller inquiry

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates pleaded guilty to charges of federal conspiracy and false statements on Friday in the ongoing Trump-Russia probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Gates, 45, of Richmond, Virginia, appeared at the federal courthouse in Washington for a plea agreement hearing Friday afternoon.

According to a court filing revealed earlier in the day, Gates pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy against the United States and making false statements to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigators.

Gates' plea comes a day after he and his longtime business associate, Paul Manafort, were indicted in Virginia on new charges of tax evasion and bank fraud. Manafort was the former Trump campaign chief, and Gates was a former campaign aide.

The pair were accused of laundering 30 million U.S. dollars, failing to pay taxes for nearly 10 years and using their real estate to fraudulently secure millions of dollars in loans, according to a 32-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Virginia on Thursday.

Thursday's indictment was the second round of charges against Gates and Manafort, who were among the first to be charged, as part of a Mueller-led investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

They were charged last October with money laundering, conspiracy and other offenses in a federal court in Washington. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.

In a statement following Gates' decision, Manafort said that he continues to maintain his "innocence" and Gates' plea would not alter his commitment to defend himself against "the untrue piled up charges."

Gates' plea marked the fifth known to the public in Mueller's investigation and came a week after a federal grand jury indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

Analysts said that Gates' plea could be a signal that he's willing to cooperate with the special counsel and could provide insight into the inner workings of the Trump campaign and transition at moments crucial to Mueller's investigation.

However, neither the October indictment against Gates and Manafort nor the additional charges included allegations of collusion with Russia as part of the Trump campaign. Those charges are related to money from their lobbying work for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.

Trump has repeatedly denied allegations of collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin while describing the Russia probe as a "hoax" and a "witch hunt."

He has also argued that the charges against Gates and Manafort were related to events that took place long before they joined his campaign.

Russia has denied meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Enditem