All three attorneys representing Rick Gates, a former associate of President Donald Trump, abruptly dumped him on Thursday, putting a mysterious spin on the investigation into Russian election meddling.
Gates and his business associate Paul Manafort were the first two people to be indicted in special prosecutor Robert Mueller's probe into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and the Russian government.
On Thursday afternoon, Gates' three lawyers _ Shanlon Wu, Walter Mack and Annemarie McAvoy _ informed U.S. District Judge Amy Berman that they're no longer representing him, effective "immediately."
The lawyers' brief filing noted that they wished to withdraw "for reasons set forth in Exhibit 1" _ which they noted had been filed under a confidential seal.
Wu and Mack did not return requests for comment.
Reached on her cellphone, McAvoy declined to answer questions, telling the Daily News that "the documents will have to speak for themselves."
Gates could not be reached for comment and it was not immediately clear if he's enlisting a new defense team.
Gates, who worked on the Trump campaign, and Manafort, who served as the campaign's manager, were slammed with a laundry list of federal charges in October, including conspiracy against the United States and money laundering. The charges related to the duo's dealings on behalf of a pro-Kremlin political party in Ukraine.
Mueller's expanding probe has in recent months zeroed in on Trump's inner circle, with the special prosecutor reportedly looking to interrogate the president himself in the next few weeks. The probe has produced four federal indictments against Trump associates so far.
Trump has blasted all allegations of collusion as "fake news."
