--- title: Paul Manafort, Rick Gates Pleaded Not Guilty to Indictments description: Former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates pleaded not guilty to all charges brought against them. canonical: https://time.com/5002802/paul-manafort-rick-gates-mueller-charges-conspiracy/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-31T04:05:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:09.426Z article:section: Politics og:title: Former Trump Campaign Chief Pleads Not Guilty to Russia Investigation Indictments og:description: Paul Manafort appeared in court Monday afternoon. og:url: https://time.com/5002802/paul-manafort-rick-gates-mueller-charges-conspiracy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta970e65023eec528/6988e3e0fb4eac25bb8945bc/gettyimages-863190272.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4748 og:image:height: 2671 og:image:alt: League Championship Series - Houston Astros v New York Yankees - Game Four og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former Trump Campaign Chief Pleads Not Guilty to Russia Investigation Indictments twitter:description: Paul Manafort appeared in court Monday afternoon. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta970e65023eec528/6988e3e0fb4eac25bb8945bc/gettyimages-863190272.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former Trump Campaign Chief Paul Manafort Pleads Not Guilty to Russia Investigation Indictments > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Oct 31, 2017 4:05 AM UTC  Former Donald Trump presidential campaign manager Paul Manafort looks on during Game Four of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium on October 17, 2017 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Former Donald Trump presidential campaign manager Paul Manafort looks on during Game Four of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium on October 17, 2017 in the Bronx borough of New York City.Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Oct 31, 2017 4:05 AM UTC Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman and an associate pleaded not guilty Monday to charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Dressed sharply in a dark suit and cerulean necktie, longtime political consultant Paul Manafort was led into a second-floor courtroom in a federal district court building two blocks from the Capitol on Monday afternoon. He was barely audible to the rest of the courtroom when he affirmed to U.S. District Magistrate Deborah A. Robinson that he understood the charges brought against him. His attorney, Kevin Downing, and a public defender representing Rick Gates both entered not guilty pleas to all charges in the indictments, which charged the two men with [conspiracy against the U.S.](http://time.com/5002415/paul-manafort-was-just-indicted-for-conspiracy-against-the-united-states-whats-that/), acting as unregistered agents of “foreign principals,” and several other financial crimes, alleging that they laundered millions of dollars earned from their political work in Ukraine. They are the only charges to emerge so far from the broad investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and the Russia. Though the indictment did not mention Trump or his campaign, it was also announced on Monday that another Trump campaign aide, foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos, had [pleaded guilty](http://time.com/5002281/george-papadopoulos-trump-guilty-russia/?xid=homepage) on Oct. 5 to lying to the FBI about his conversations with “foreign nationals” apparently linked to high levels of the Russian government. A spokesperson for Rick Gates, Manafort’s longtime deputy who was involved with the Trump campaign on an ad hoc basis, said in a statement on Monday that Gates “welcomes the opportunity to confront these charges in court.” The spokesperson, Glenn Selig, also suggested that “this unexpected and hasty proceeding” was “designed to accommodate perhaps political and press considerations.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5002802/paul-manafort-rick-gates-mueller-charges-conspiracy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5002802/paul-manafort-rick-gates-mueller-charges-conspiracy/"},"headline":"Former Trump Campaign Chief Paul Manafort Pleads Not Guilty to Russia Investigation Indictments","datePublished":"2017-10-31T04:05:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:09.426Z","description":"Former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates pleaded not guilty to all charges brought against them.","url":"https://time.com/5002802/paul-manafort-rick-gates-mueller-charges-conspiracy/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","onetime","Paul Manafort","Robert Mueller"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta970e65023eec528/6988e3e0fb4eac25bb8945bc/gettyimages-863190272.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta970e65023eec528/6988e3e0fb4eac25bb8945bc/gettyimages-863190272.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"League Championship Series - Houston Astros v New York Yankees - Game Four","caption":"League Championship Series - Houston Astros v New York Yankees - Game Four","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5002802/paul-manafort-rick-gates-mueller-charges-conspiracy/","name":"Former Trump Campaign Chief Paul Manafort Pleads Not Guilty to Russia Investigation Indictments"}}]}] ```