Former Paul Manafort associate Rick Gates was "tormented" about taking a plea deal amid tremendous pressure from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, according to author Daphne Barak on Newsmax TV.
"The pressure amounting about him – and the others – but about him was beyond words," Barak who conducted an exclusive interview with Gates for her book, "To Plea or Not to Plea: The Story of Rick Gates and the Mueller Investigation" told Thursday's "America Talks Live."
"It took him 118 days to make this crucial decision to plea, and he was really tormented. And the moment he broke down is because they doubled the charges on both him and Manafort."
Gates was a special target for Mueller investigators to mine for dirt on the Trump campaign because he was involved from the campaign through the inauguration, Barak told host John Cardillo.
"Rick Gates could tell them about many stages, not only one," she said.
Barak's book is out now, but she is also a contributor to a book by her husband Erbil Gunasti, which is to come in January but can be preordered now on Amazon.
The book is "GameChanger: Trump Card: Turkey & Erdogan," and details how America under President Donald Trump is working with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to keep from falling behind China and India as the world's economic leader.
Important: See Newsmax TV now carried in 70 million cable homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, or Find More Cable Systems – Click Here.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.