Rick Gates, the former business associate of President Donald Trump's campaign chair Paul Manafort, will be allowed to temporarily modify the terms of his house arrest in order to attend "events for the New Year's holiday."
Judge Amy Berman Jackson granted a motion filed by Gates' defense in U.S. District Court, in Washington D.C., on Thursday afternoon. Gates, Trump's former deputy campaign manager, requested that the terms of his house arrest be modified "for limited purposes so that he may accompany his family to events for the New Year's holiday from Sunday, December 31, 2017 through Monday January 1, 2018," documents showed.
Gates, however, will not be drifting too far from his home.
"The events are within the jurisdiction of the Eastern District of Virginia, less than 60 miles from Mr. Gates’s residence," the documents read. "Mr. Gates requests a limited release to attend these events with his family before school resumes."
Both Gates and Manafort were indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller in connection to the ongoing probe into the Trump campaign's alleged ties with the Russian government. They have since been under house arrest and are facing with 12 counts, including conspiracy against the United States and money laundering.
It's certainly not the first time Gates has sought to bend the rules of his house arrest, as he was able to leave home for a weekend in early December "to attend events for his children," after helping secure his $5 million bail conditions, Politico reported. Judge Berman Jackson granted his motion then despite opposition from Mueller's investigative team.
Manafort was also recently granted permission to spend his Christmas holiday in the Hamptons for five days. He was spotted in Washington, D.C. upon his return.
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