Thomas Barrack told a UAE official that Trump considered appointing him ambassador to the country and ‘give Abu Dhabi more power’: prosecutors
]
Trump considered making Thomas Barrack the UAE Ambassador, according to messages obtained by prosecutors.
Prosecutors arrested Barrack Tuesday on charges of trying to influence US foreign policy on the UAE’s behalf.
Trump appointing Barrack would “give Abu Dhabi more power!” Barrack told a UAE official, prosecutors allege.
10 Things in Politics: Get the latest political & economic news. Loading Something is loading. Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Thomas Barrack — the Donald Trump associate arrested Tuesday on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent — told an official of the United Arab Emirates that the ex-president considered appointing him as the US ambassador to the UAE and that the move would “give Abu Dhabi more power!” according to court documents filed by prosecutors.
On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Barrack with seven felony counts. Barrack was the chairman of former President Trump’s inaugural fund as well as a campaign advisor following decades of work together in the real estate industry.
Prosecutors also charged Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, a UAE official, as well as Matthew Grimes, a US citizen, in the indictment. Justice Department officials said the group conspired to influence US foreign policy with regards to the UAE, and that Barrack lied about their activities to the FBI.
A spokesperson for Barrack told Insider he planned to plead not guilty. Prosecutors said in a press release that Alshahhi remains at large.
In April 2017, according to charging documents, Barrack told Alshahhi that he spoke to Trump. Trump discussed whether to appoint his longtime friend as the US ambassador to the UAE or as a Special Envoy in the State Department for the Middle East, Barrack said, according to prosecutors.
Barrack said that either appointment “would give Abu Dhabi much power!” according to prosecutors.
According to prosecutors, Alshahhi praised Barrack for a “very effective operation” in persuading Trump. Alshahhi also told Barrack that senior UAE officials “loved the idea” of Barrack as an ambassador or envoy and would support it, prosecutors said.
Barrack’s company Colony NorthStar raised more than $7 billion the year following Trump’s inauguration, with 24% of that money coming from the Persian Gulf, according to the New York Times.
Trump ultimately left the UAE ambassador post vacant for two years, nominating former construction executive and Republican fundraiser John Rakolta to the position in May 2018. He also appointed a former Trump Organization lawyer, Jason Greenblatt, as a special envoy to the Middle East. Barrack had not taken a position in the US government before Trump left office in January 2017, though according to the New York Times he rejected offers to become Treasury secretary and the US ambassador to Mexico.
Trump inaugural committee head accused of being UAE agent
]
FILE - This photo from Tuesday Jan. 10, 2017, shows Tom Barrack before a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump peaking in New York Barrack, chair … FILE - This photo from Tuesday Jan. 10, 2017, shows Tom Barrack before a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump peaking in New York Barrack, chair of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee, was arrested Tuesday, July 20, 2021 in California on charges alleging that he and others conspired to influence Trump’s foreign policy positions to benefit the United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - This photo from Tuesday Jan. 10, 2017, shows Tom Barrack peaking with reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York before meeting with Pre… FILE - This photo from Tuesday Jan. 10, 2017, shows Tom Barrack peaking with reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York before meeting with President-elect Donald Trump. Barrack, chair of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee, was arrested Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in California on charges alleging that he and others conspired to influence Trump’s foreign policy positions to benefit the United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - This photo from Thursday Jan. 19, 2017, shows Inaugural Committee chairman Tom Barrack speaks at a pre-Inaugural “Make America Great Again! Wel… FILE - This photo from Thursday Jan. 19, 2017, shows Inaugural Committee chairman Tom Barrack speaks at a pre-Inaugural “Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration” at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Barrack, chair of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee, was arrested Tuesday, July 20, 2021 in California on charges alleging that he and others conspired to influence Trump’s foreign policy positions to benefit the United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The chair of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee was arrested Tuesday on charges alleging he secretly conspired to influence U.S. policy to benefit the United Arab Emirates, even while he was seeking a position as an American diplomat.
Tom Barrack, 74, of Santa Monica, California, was among three men charged in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, with acting as unregistered foreign agents as they tried to influence U.S. policy on the UAE’s behalf while Trump was running in 2016 and later while he was president.
The indictment goes to the heart of the U.S.’ longtime close relationship with the UAE and directly ties its de facto ruler, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to Barrack’s charges.
Besides conspiracy, Barrack was charged with obstruction of justice and making multiple false statements during a June 2019 interview with federal agents. Also charged in a seven-count indictment were Matthew Grimes, 27, of Aspen, Colorado, who is a former executive at Barrack’s company, and Rashid al Malik, 43, a businessman from the United Arab Emirates who prosecutors said acted as a conduit to that nation’s rulers.
One of Trump’s close personal friends for decades, Barrack is the latest in a long line of the former president’s associates to face criminal charges, including his former campaign chair, his former deputy campaign chair, his former chief strategist, his former national security adviser, his former personal lawyer and his company’s longtime chief financial officer.
Barrack and Grimes were arrested in Southern California while al Malik was at large, believed to be living somewhere in the Middle East, authorities said. In court papers, prosecutors said al Malik was living in Los Angeles for years before fleeing the U.S. three days after an April 2018 interview by law enforcement. The UAE, which hosts thousands of U.S. troops and aircraft on the Arabian Peninsula, did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday on the indictment.
At an initial hearing in Los Angeles federal court, Barrack’s lawyer, Ronak D. Desai, agreed that his client could remain detained until a hearing next Monday after prosecutors submitted written arguments saying he should be denied bail as a risk to flee.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue called Grimes a “serious risk of flight” and also ordered him detained pending a hearing Monday.
Attorney Michael Freedman, representing Grimes, said his client had no criminal history, no longer worked for Barrack’s company and doesn’t have the access investigators allege he once had.
“He is a fairly low-level individual in all of this,” Freedman said.
Neither man entered a plea.
Barrack raised $107 million for Trump’s inaugural celebration, which was scrutinized both for its lavish spending and for attracting numerous foreign officials and businesspeople looking to lobby the new administration.
While the indictment made no allegations of wrongdoing by the inaugural committee, or by Trump — who was referenced only as “the Candidate,” the “President-Elect” and “the President” — it said Barrack boasted that he had been a 30-year partner of Trump and could help the UAE gain U.S. influence.
“The defendants repeatedly capitalized on Barrack’s friendships and access to a candidate who was eventually elected President, high-ranking campaign and government officials, and the American media to advance the policy goals of a foreign government without disclosing their true allegiances,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Mark Lesko said.
Barrack has denied wrongdoing.
“Mr. Barrack has made himself voluntarily available to investigators from the outset. He is not guilty and will be pleading not guilty," a spokesperson said.
Emirati officials were not identified by name either, though details in the indictment link back to Sheikh Mohammed. The crown prince also found himself entangled in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in America’s 2016 election.
Prosecutors said Barrack also provided UAE government officials with sensitive information about developments within the Trump administration — including how senior U.S. officials felt about a yearslong boycott of Qatar conducted by the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries.
“Worse, in his communications with Al Malik, the defendant framed his efforts to obtain an official position within the Administration as one that would enable him to further advance the interests of the UAE, rather than the interests of the United States,” prosecutors wrote in a letter seeking his detention. They noted that he has citizenship in the U.S. and Lebanon, a country with no extradition treaty with the U.S.
When Barrack tried to get Trump to appoint him as either the U.S. ambassador to the UAE or as special envoy to the Middle East, he wrote al Malik ’that any such appointment ‘would give ABU DHABI more power!’" prosecutors wrote.
Barrack served as an informal adviser to Trump’s campaign in 2016 before becoming the inaugural committee chair. Beginning in January 2017, he informally advised senior U.S. government officials on Middle East foreign policy, prosecutors said.
Bill Coffield, an attorney for al Malik — who was not in custody Tuesday — said his client had cooperated extensively with Mueller and that there was “nothing new here.” He said al Malik had simply tried to foster a good relationship between the country where he was born and the U.S., where he lived and worked for years, “both of which he loves.”
Noting that Forbes estimated Barrack’s net worth at $1 billion in March 2013 and his access to a private plane, prosecutors called him “an extremely wealthy and powerful individual with substantial ties to Lebanon, the UAE, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” who poses a serious flight risk in a letter filed prior to his appearance.
They said the evidence against him was “overwhelming” and his risk of fleeing was higher because he’d traveled extensively, taking more than 75 international trips in the last five years, and regularly used private jets.
Authorities cited several specific instances when Barrack or others allegedly sought to influence U.S. policies, noting that, in May 2016, Barrack inserted language praising the UAE into a campaign speech Trump delivered about U.S. energy policy and arranged for senior UAE officials to receive an advanced draft.
They said he also agreed to arrange meetings and phone calls between senior UAE officials and Trump, reviewed a PowerPoint presentation to be delivered to senior UAE officials on how to boost their influence in the U.S. with his help and repeatedly tried to conceal his conduct, even denying he’d ever been asked by al Malik to help the UAE.
Throughout 2016 and 2017, Barrack and Grimes received talking points and feedback from senior UAE officials in connection with Barrack’s national press appearances and communicated on a dedicated cellular telephone which had a secure messaging application to facilitate communications with senior UAE officials, prosecutors said.
They said that after one appearance in which Barrack repeatedly praised the United Arab Emirates, Barrack emailed al Malik, saying: “I nailed it … for the home team,” referring to the UAE.
Prosecutors also asked that Grimes be held without bail, citing the seriousness of the crimes, overwhelming evidence of guilt, his access to Barrack’s fortune and significant ties to countries without extradition treaties with the United States.
In his statement, Lesko characterized the alleged conduct as “nothing short of a betrayal of those officials in the United States, including the former President.”
Neumeister reported from New York. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo in Washington; Jim Mustian, Michael R. Sisak and Tom Hays in New York; Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles; James LaPorta in West Jefferson, North Carolina, and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
Tom Barrack charged with illegally lobbying then-President Trump on behalf of UAE
]
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mark Lesko of the Justice Department’s national security division said: “The defendants repeatedly capitalized on Barrack’s friendships and access to a candidate who was eventually elected President, high-ranking campaign and government officials, and the American media to advance the policy goals of a foreign government without disclosing their true allegiances.”
“In furtherance of the alleged criminal conspiracy and conduct, Barrack and Grimes, with the assistance of [Al Malik], acquired a dedicated cellular telephone and installed a secure messaging application to facilitate Barrack’s communications with senior UAE officials,” the department said.
“On multiple occasions, Barrack referred to [Al Malik] as the UAE’s ‘secret weapon’ to advance its foreign policy agenda in the United States,” the Justice Department said in a press release.
Grimes has a “close personal relationship” with Barrack, has taken more than 50 international trips on Barrack’s private plane, and lists Barrack’s $15 million home in Aspen as his primary residence, prosecutors said in a court filing.
Grimes, who worked directly for Barrack at the Barrack-founded private equity firm Colony Capital, was arrested in California and detained pending a bail hearing next Monday.
Charged with Barrack are Matthew Grimes, 27, of Aspen, Colorado, and a 43-year-old UAE national, Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, who remains at large.
Prosecutors also said that Barrack had met with and assisted senior leaders of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is a close UAE ally, and that he “provided UAE government officials ‘with sensitive non-public information about developments within the Administration, including information about the positions of multiple senior United States government officials with respect to the Qatari blockade conducted by the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries.’”
Prosecutors said the “evidence of [Barrack’s] guilt in this case is overwhelming.”
The evidence against Barrack includes thousands of emails, text messages, iCloud records, flight records and social media records, prosecutors separately said in a detention memo.
The indictment noted that Barrack, 74, during that time covered by the indictment informally advised American officials on Middle East policy, and also sought appointment to a senior role in the U.S. government, including as special envoy to the Middle East.
Barrack, who never registered with the American government as an agent for the UAE, also is charged with obstruction of justice and making multiple false statements during a June 2019 interview with federal law enforcement agents.
The Santa Monica, California, resident is accused with the other defendants of secretly advancing the interests of the UAE at the direction of senior officials of that country by influencing the foreign policy positions of Trump’s 2016 campaign, and then those positions of the U.S. government during Trump’s presidency through April 2018.
Barrack, who was charged with two other men in a seven-count indictment in Brooklyn, New York, federal court, was chairman of Trump’s 2017 inaugural fund.
Thomas Barrack, a private equity investor who is a close friend of former President Donald Trump , was arrested Tuesday morning in Los Angeles on federal charges of illegally lobbying Trump on behalf of the United Arab Emirates .
Thomas Barrack, chairman and chief executive officer of Colony Capital Inc., gestures while speaking during the closing reception at the Milken Institute Japan Symposium in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, March 25, 2019. The conference brings together business leaders and government officials to discuss geopolitical, economic and social issues facing Japan. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“The conduct alleged in the indictment is nothing short of a betrayal of those officials in the United States, including the former President,” Lesko said in a statement.
Prosecutors said that Barrack in communications with Al Malik “framed his efforts to obtain an official position within the Administration as one that would enable him to further advance the interests of the UAE, rather than the interests of the United States.”
“When the defendant sought a position as either U.S. Ambassador to the UAE or Special Envoy to the Middle East, he advised Al Malik that any such appointment ‘would give ABU DHABI more power!’ the memo said referring to the capital city of the UAE.
“Al Malik concurred that, if the defendant successfully obtained an appointment to such an official position, it would make the defendant ‘deliver more’ for the UAE, making their efforts a ‘[v]ery effective operation.’ The defendant agreed.”
A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Barrack’s arrest.
Matthew Herrington, an attorney for Barrack, told CNBC that his client was arrested in Los Angeles “despite the fact that we’ve cooperated with this investigation from the outset.”
A spokesman for Barrack said: “Mr. Barrack has made himself voluntarily available to investigators from the outset. He is not guilty and will be pleading not guilty.”
Barrack stepped down as CEO of Colony Capital in 2020. He resigned as executive chairman of the firm in April.
Federal prosecutors have been investigating Barrack’s alleged work on behalf of the UAE for at least two years.
One of the events that caught their attention was a speech about energy policy that Trump gave as a candidate for president in May 2016.
The indictment charges that Barrack “inserted language praising the UAE” into the speech, and “emailed an advance draft of the speech to [Al Malik] for delivery to senior UAE officials.”
For the next two years, prosecutors allege, Barrack “sought and received direction and feedback, including talking points, from senior UAE officials in connection with national press appearances Barrack used to promote the interests of the UAE.”
“During this time, Barrack never registered as a lobbyist for the UAE, as required under the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” the indictment says.
The indictment said that in December 2016, a month after Trump’s election, Barrack attended a meeting with Grimes, Al Malik and senior UAE government officials, where he advised them to create a “wish list” of U.S. foreign policy items that the UAE wanted to be accomplished during different time spans in the new administration.
The indictment also said that in the following March, Barrack and the other two men agreed to promote the candidacy of a person favored by top UAE officials for the position of U.S. ambassador to that country.
And in September 2017, Al Malik “communicated with Barrack about the opposition of the UAE to a proposed summit at Camp David to address an ongoing dispute between the State of Qatar, the UAE and other Middle Eastern governments, after which Barrack sought to advise the President of the United States against holding the Camp David summit,” the Justice Department noted in its press release. “The summit never happened.”
The UAE, where Trump maintained business ties before becoming president, established a key relationship to the U.S. during the Trump administration.
The UAE signed onto the 2020 Abraham Accords, which took steps toward normalizing relations between a handful of Middle East nations, including Israel.
Last November, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the Trump administration would sell more than $23 billion worth of military equipment to the UAE “in recognition of our deepening relationship” and the nation’s “need for advanced defense capabilities to deter and defend itself against heightened threats from Iran.”
A friend of Trump’s for decades, Barrack emerged as an early backer of Trump’s presidential bid long before many on Wall Street considered the real estate developer a serious contender for the White House.
By the spring of 2016 when Trump began to sweep primaries, Barrack and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, convinced him that he needed to hire a real campaign manager.
Barrack pressed Trump to bring on Paul Manafort, a longtime Washington fixture and Republican lobbyist.
Manafort eventually rose to the position of Trump campaign chairman before he was forced to step down in August 2016 following reports of foreign lobbying he did on behalf of Ukrainian politicians. Both Manafort and Barrack hoped their cooperation in 2016 would accrue to each man’s benefit.
Barrack wanted to be appointed Middle East envoy in a future Trump administration. But after Trump won the White House, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, intervened, and Barrack did not get the job.
Manafort, meanwhile, had hoped that Barrack’s connections in the Middle East would translate into lucrative business for Manafort’s lobbying practice.
But the yearslong investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller put an end to the hopes of Barrack and Manafort to rise to positions of prominence in the Trump White House.
Questions about Barrack’s foreign lobbying first came to light during Mueller’s investigation, according to prosecutors.
By the end of his probe, Mueller had referred a total of 14 criminal cases to prosecutors, most of which remain sealed to this day.
In 2018, Manafort was found guilty by a jury of eight felonies related to foreign lobbying and tax evasion. He served just under two years in prison and was released in June of last year.
Trump later pardoned Manafort shortly before leaving the White House.
Correction: Paul Manafort was found guilty of eight felonies in 2018. An earlier version misstated the year.