Gates begins challenging cross-examination

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) – A lawyer for Paul Manafort has suggested to the government’s star witness that he has “told so many lies that you can’t even remember them.”

Rick Gates began a challenging cross-examination Tuesday as Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing, pressed him on his own lies to the special counsel’s office and to embezzlement that he admitted to earlier in the trial.

Gates acknowledged he had to plead guilty to false statements after lying during a February interview with federal investigators.

He said “there’s no question I struggled to get all the information out.”

He struggled under cross-examination to remember exactly what he had admitted to during interviews with investigators.

At one point, Downing asked him, “Have they confronted you with so many lies that you can’t even remember them.”