*** Gates must have given testimony to SINK Shitler ***

[fleur-de-lisa]

Kyle Cheney@kyledcheney

Mueller's team has officially proposed dismissing charges against RICK GATES, following last week's guilty plea.

Link to tweet

[gratuitous]

1. Dismissed without prejudice

Which means they can re-file the charges against Gates if he doesn't keep up his end of the plea deal. Sing child, sing.

[awesomerwb1]

2. Why so fast??

My non-expert self is wondering.

So charges 1-4 and 11 through 14 remain?

[jberryhill]

3. Yes

There's nothing unusual or "fast" here. Quite obviously, Gates pleaded guilty to 8 counts, in exchange for the others being dropped.

[cilla4progress]

4. I

Concur.

They call this a "plea deal," or bargain. This is its essence.

[Grammy23]

6. And Mueller still holds the Ace in the Hole

If Gates backslides in any of his part of the deal, all bets are off. The charges can be in his face again. Pronto!

I suppose we are all eager to find out what (or who) he gave up to Mueller. Guess we’ll have to wait and see, but it sure helps explain tRump’s little hissy tweet this morning.

[NCTraveler]

5. Seems to be some disagreement on what this means.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210296158

I don't see how it is anything other than good.

[cilla4progress]

7. PSYCHED!!!

Everything we know to be true and right is coming together.

Just muse on that and enjoy for a little bit, before back to the battle!

[matt819]

8. Not a lawyer, but. . .

I have to agree with others (also non-lawyers, I gather) who conclude that this is a reward for the guilty plea. Mueller is a consummate pro. The charges and then the dismissal of the charges were not "let's see what happens" or "whoops" moments. I would put money on the likelihood that he announcement of the charges and the dismissal of those charges is choreography designed to rattle Manafort, the co-conspirators trump, trump kids, kushner, their lawyers, and more.

[Fred Sanders]

9. Do not forget what the Schiff memo says, and how it destroys the Nunes fake memo:

The Schiff memo claims the FBI had “multiple,” “independent” sources to “support the case for surveilling PAGE,” and made only “narrow use” of Steele’s dossier, much of which it found “credible.”

Justice officials TOLD the FISA court that Steele’s inquiry was funded by Democrats, Nunes memo lies about that, and that he may have been biased against candidate Trump. But the FISA court issued the first warrant based on all this AND much more OTHER information gathered BEFORE FBI sought Page warrant.

Justice officials also told the court that it had ended its relationship with Steele because he had shared his information with reporters. “FBI and DOJ officials did not ‘abuse’ the FISA process, omit material information, or subvert this vital tool to spy on the Trump campaign,” the memo asserts.

So this dismissal is a tidying up of the plea bargain, nothing more.

It is a good thing.

[nycbos]

10. I think that is SOP for a plea bargain.

You plead guilty to some chargers in exchange for others being dropped.