Trump Ally Tom Barrack Acquitted in Foreign-Influence Case (2)

Tom Barrack was cleared of charges that he tried to influence the campaign and administration of his longtime friend, former President Donald Trump, as an agent of the United Arab Emirates.

The jury found Barrack, 75, not guilty of all nine counts against him, including failing to register as a foreign agent, obstructing justice and lying to federal agents. The Colony Capital LLC founder’s former assistant, Matthew Grimes, 29, was also acquitted on two foreign-agent counts following the six-week trial in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

The verdict after barely two days of deliberations was a stinging rebuke to federal prosecutors, who claimed Barrack advanced the UAE’s interests to help Colony secure $374 million in investments from the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth funds.

As US District Judge Brian Cogan read the verdict, Barrack dropped his head down and began to weep, as did his ex-wife and children. One male juror pumped his fist in the air saluting Barrack, and a second shook his hand while the former defendant, accompanied by his family, supporters and lawyers, went to have his electronic ankle monitor removed. Later, outside the courthouse, Barrack praised the judge, jury and the US legal system.

‘Amazing’

“I’m humbled,” he said. “The system is amazing. People are amazing. I have no hostility. Just proud to be American.” Asked what he was going to do next, Barrack answered, “I’m going to go have a drink.”

The statement was in keeping with the sunny demeanor Barrack sought to project on the stand, and his testimony in his own defense clearly played well with the jury. Rebecca Lovaglio, 46, an alternate juror who didn’t participate in the verdict but heard all of the evidence, said he appeared “very genuine and truthful and sincere,” recalling his expression of concern for Grimes as “a testament to his character.”

Lovaglio had less kind words for the government. “I thought much of the prosecution’s evidence was very misleading and misrepresented the truth,” she said.

Abbe Lowell, Grimes’s lawyer, called the case “another example of prosecutorial overreaching and overcharging” and called for greater supervision of government cases.

The Brooklyn US attorney’s office, which brought the case, declined to comment on the verdict.

Barrack first became a familiar face as a Trump campaign surrogate in 2016. Prosecutors alleged that many of Barrack’s campaign activities were undertaken at the behest of the UAE. During the trial, the government laid out his contacts with Emirati officials and said he agreed in May 2016 to serve as a secret back-channel to the Trump campaign and, later, administration. Barrack was accused of inserting language sought by the UAE into a Trump energy policy speech and providing intelligence on US Middle East diplomatic appointments, among other acts.

Read more: MMA-Loving Billionaire Spy Boss Is at Heart of Barrack Trial

On the witness stand, Barrack denied any sinister motive in his interactions with UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, or MBZ; his younger brother, Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed, the national security adviser, and other Emirati officials. He said he thought they sought him out because they were concerned about Trump’s anti-Muslim campaign-trail rhetoric. Barrack acknowledged his desire for UAE sovereign wealth money but claimed that had no bearing on any informal advice he gave the Trump campaign or White House.

He made some effort to distance himself from Trump, saying his friend’s time in office was “disastrous” for his business and criticizing the Republican Party’s “racist tone” ahead of the 2016 election. He maintained a genial, self-deprecating demeanor for much of time on the stand, occasionally winning smiles from jurors. Before trial, the defense had expressed concern that dislike of Trump would hurt Barrack with the Brooklyn jury.

During closing arguments on Tuesday, the government seemed more concerned that Barrack had succeeded in charming the jury. He’s an “incredibly eloquent man who can turn a phrase better than anyone,” prosecutor Ryan Harris said.

‘Two Tom Barracks’

“There are two Tom Barracks: the man who talks about weaving a web of tolerance and understanding, and the man he really is when the cameras are off, when no one is watching, when the facade is stripped away,” Harris said. “A man ultimately just leveraging his access and influence with the Trump campaign and the Trump administration to make money and acquire power.”

The government’s case was built largely on hundreds of emails, texts and other communications among Barrack, Grimes, and an Emirati businessman indicted with them, Rashid al Malik, who is a fugitive. The US said he served as an intermediary to top UAE officials.

Harris said the evidence is “overwhelming that Rashid Al Malik asked Mr. Barrack to do things on behalf of the UAE time and time and time again. That is, at its essence, the heart of this case. Mr. Barrack denied these simple truths.”

Barrack attorney Randall Jackson in defense closing arguments said prosecutors failed to show why his client would act as a secret agent.

Read more: UAE’s $374 Million Was ‘Tiny, Tiny’ Sum to Barrack, Defense Says

“What could possibly be the motive for an extraordinarily successful businessman at the end of his career, after a lifetime of doing good work, to decide for my final chapter, ‘I’m going to engage in serious international crimes?’” Jackson said.

Jackson said the government had tried to falsely characterize the UAE investments in Colony as payoffs.

“That’s not money that goes into Tom’s pocket,” Jackson said. “There’s no $300 million that goes to Tom. It just goes into an account where it has to be invested by Colony; and only if it makes some money does Colony, as a company, not Tom, get some money from that.”

Two Trump cabinet officials testified during Barrack’s trial. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared for the prosecution and said he was not informed about outreach to the UAE by either Barrack or Jared Kushner. Testifying for the defense, former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Barrack had expressed opposition to a blockade of Qatar that was supported by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries in the region.

The case is US v. Al Malik Alshahhi, 21-cr-00371, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).

(Updates with detail from courtroom)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Patricia Hurtado in Federal Court in Manhattan at pathurtado@bloomberg.net;
David Voreacos in New York at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net;
Zijia Song in New York at zsong107@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Katia Porzecanski at kporzecansk1@bloomberg.net

Anthony Lin

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