2016 ELECTION/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Early one morning in October, Rick Gates, a Washington lobbyist who had been a top official in the Trump campaign, emailed family and friends warning them that he was about to be indicted by the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. He declared himself innocent of ‘collusion with the Russians,’ and denounced the investigation as ‘highly politicized and an assault on those who helped elect a president that was not favored by many.’ One recipient of the email, Elliott Broidy, a top fund-raiser for President Trump, responded quickly, expressing his condolences to Mr. Gates and adding that he and his family were ‘in my thoughts and prayers.’ The warm response hints at the relationship that once existed between the two men as they worked together to pursue lucrative opportunities in Mr. Trump’s Washington. Mr. Broidy was a client of Mr. Gates, and had paid him at least $125,000. For that money Mr. Gates advised Mr. Broidy on how to pursue both a contract for his business and appointments for his associates and provided insight into the new administration’s foreign policy plans, according to interviews as well as internal emails and documents obtained by The New York Times. Their financial arrangement, not previously reported, was emblematic of the way a small circle of Mr. Trump’s associates at the beginning of his presidency aggressively marketed their administration access to well-paying clients, and sheds light on the activities of Mr. Gates, who has emerged as a key figure in the investigation of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.”
-Kenneth P. Vogel, Mark Mazzetti, Maggie Haberman and David D. Kirkpatrick, “Two Trump Allies, Seeing Unlimited Opportunity, Instead Drew Scrutiny,” The New York Times online, July 24, 2018