It’s the tantalizing question that came a day before the notoriously surly Judge Thomas Ellis stunned courtroom observers Thursday by apologizing for his scolding of prosecutors in the Paul Manafort trial and admitting that he “probably” made an error. While Rick Gates was testifying, prosecutor Greg Andres teased out what exactly it was that the former Manafort wingman had done to catch the charge in his plea deal about lying to the feds. Specifically, Gates admitted that he had lied to prosecutors during his initial interviews this year about Manafort’s meeting with an unnamed congressman. “Mr. Manafort met with a congressman and discussed a specific issue” is all Gates would say about the issue. No word yet who the congressman is, what they discussed, and, perhaps most important, why special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is so interested in it.
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