Courts been in session, julia . Reporter so court is just Getting Started behind me, hallie. They had a little bit of a delay this morning but right now were seamana for thes Defense Attorney come up to the front. Hes ready to ask rick gates more questions. On the way into court downey said they were feeling good and confident today that they are doing well in this case, especially because he is now continuing that crossexamination. It was pretty ruthless yesterday. They found gates to be someone who had a secret life. They had him detail this private flat london that he used to have an affair. Talked about stealing hundred of thousands of dollars from paul man for the. They also started asking him about like to the fbi and for some reason gates was a little squirrely on that issue. He wouldnt come out and said he did it even though thats what he pled guilty to just months ago. Theyre trying to paint someone that the jury would not believe as credible, which is key to their defense str
i think one of the reasons this could have implications is because chris collins was one of trump s earliest and strong supporters. he s been loyal to the president on capitol hill. he s taken pot shots from time to time at some figures back in the obamacare appeal and replace when some of the right wing members were creating hackels, chris collins went to bat for the president. since then he s been mostly loyal to republican leadership in the house. there has been an ethics investigation in the house about this. collins was asked about it in the fall. i was among several reporters who spoke to him last i think around october or so about it and he simply maintained his innocence. he expressed confidence that it would blow over and we haven t heard much about it this year on capitol hill. but clearly there s more going on here and clearly he s in some deep legal problems. i was just handed a statement, skrahil, anna, and d.