The strange case of Rick Gates

Gates’ attorneys filed a motion to withdraw, with the underlying reasons under seal, on Feb. 1. Some of those underlying documents have since been released to the public, with one claiming that “irreconcilable differences have developed with the client which make our effective representation of the client impossible.”

Gates is believed to have quietly added a new lawyer to his legal team, Tom Green, of the DC-firm Sidley Austin. Green was spotted outside of the courtroom Wednesday, but is not yet listed as an attorney of the record on the public docket, nor did he join Gates’ other attorneys during the public portion of Wednesday’s conference.

Even during the public portion of the hearing, much of the discussions happened at the judge’s bench — meaning out of the hearing range of the media and public.

The judge, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, did reveal publicly that Gates had filed under seal a motion pro se — meaning on his own, and not through an attorney — asking that she wait a week before considering his attorneys’ request to withdraw. One of his attorneys, Shanlon Wu, said that they had not seen that pleading. Jackson said she would be unsealing it shortly.

After spending more than an hour in a private conference with the judge, Gates and his team — including Green — emerged from the courtroom. They declined to comment, as there is a gag order in the case, but Wu confirmed that he was still Gates’ lawyer.

[...]

There was also some discussion of the status of discovery, with Mueller’s team – represented Wednesday by Andrew Weissmann, Greg Andres and Kyle Freeny — indicating that they were still turning over documents on a rolling basis.

Andres noted that there other investigations under Mueller’s probe besides Manafort and Gates’ case. Andres said that they were reviewing those files, making discovery an ongoing process.

  TPM

Curiouser and curiouser. And what's going to happen in a week? Will there no longer be irreconcilable differences?

The discussion at the bench appeared to be related to discovery issues. Downing later suggested he would be seeking an extension of the Feb. 23 deadline to file his motion to raise what he says are defects in the Manafort indictment. Jackson seemed skeptical of the request, prompting Downing to claim that the discussion at the bench involved issues that could come to play in his motion.

“I am not sure that’s entirely true,” Jackson said.

“I’m not either,” Downing conceded.

Huh?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.