California businessman accused of lobbying charge counts Trump as his ‘closest friend’

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By Paul LeBlanc, CNN

The illegal foreign lobbying charge filed against Tom Barrack on Tuesday drew attention to a winding business and political career defined by his unique power to stay in the ever-shifting orbit of former President Donald’s advisers. Trump.

A businessman in Southern California and former chairman of Trump’s inaugural committee, Barrack has been charged with seven-count charges of acting as a United Arab Emirates agent between April 2016 and April 2018. He is also charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal law enforcement agents.

Barrack’s spokesman said he would plead not guilty to the allegations. A judge ordered him to be detained after a preliminary court investigation on Tuesday afternoon.

But Barrack’s relationship with Trump began even before the former President ran for office or found fame in reality television.

Success in the business world

“Tom was there when Donald got his a– kick in the ’80s and’ 90s,” Gary Winnick, a close friend of Trump and Barrack, told CNN. “I don’t think Donald has forgotten that yet.”

Born to immigrants who owned a Lebanese grocery store, Barrack amassed his fortune in distressed assets, or what he saw as low-risk, high-reward desperate assets. for rehabilitation.

He first became friends with Trump in the 1980s during negotiations about owning a hotel, an encounter he recalls in his speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention, in which he called Trump one of his “closest friends.”

However, it wasn’t until the 1990s when Trump joined Barrack, who became an increasingly trusted advisor and sound board as he found success in the business world.

After graduating from the University of Southern California and earning his law degree at the University of San Diego, Barrack founded Colony Capital, a California real estate and real estate firm, according to his LinkedIn account. He has served as executive chairman of the company since 1991.

Barrack’s business profile would grow along with Trump’s fame, and by the time Trump began considering a White House bid, Barrack was well positioned to have significant influence on strategy.

“Donald used Tom in the beginning to vent ideas to him. Tom didn’t go for political reasons,” Nick Ribis, a top Trump casino executive who later worked for Barrack, previously told CNN. “Egos tend to be hindered – jealousy and egos. Not so with Donald and Tom. ”

Public and private support for Trump

Barrack’s friendship with Trump was on full display throughout the 2016 campaign as he believed in Trump’s character in the face of much controversy. CNN previously reported that when several women appeared to denounce Trump’s misconduct, Barrack helped him strategize while promising to give his integrity to the public.

When in need of a way to soften his image with Mexico, Barrack urged Trump to take one last secret trip to the country and show that he can dull his rhetoric on the world stage. And when Muslim monarchs rang alarm bells on a policy meant to ban their 1.6 billion followers from immigration to the U.S., Barrack urged Trump to re -examine his offensive posture – while the re-channeling exciting words into his own Rolodex.

“I just have amazing things to tell you about Donald,” Barrack said in his speech at the 2016 convention, “because this guy is good enough, he’s tough enough, he’s tough enough. smart and knowledgeable enough to do it on its own merits. “

Their relationship culminated in Barrack’s role as head of Trump’s Presidential Inaugural Committee, where he planned and coordinated most of the events around Trump’s inauguration in 2017.

But his high profile in Trump’s world brought big scrutiny, even as he remained an outside adviser.

Under investigation

In 2019, Barrack got a big reaction when he argued that the U.S. had no moral authority to criticize Saudi Arabia for its own record of “atrocities.”

When asked if the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi had damaged Saudi Arabia’s reputation on the world stage, Barrack began his response with a joke before sparking public outrage over the U.S. murder in a dispute over Western about Saudi law.

“As long as you don’t make me a guest at the Ritz,” Barrack sighed before moving on to his response to a question from CNN’s Becky Anderson at the Milken Institute MENA Summit in Abu Dhabi.

Later that year, a report presented by Democrats to the House Oversight Committee charged that Barrack used his influence within the administration to push a lucrative business deal involving the transfer of U.S. nuclear technology. in Saudi Arabia while, sometimes, earning to profit from the proposal.

Barrack’s influence on the Trump administration and how he could influence it was discussed again on Tuesday.

According to the released indictment, Barrack and two other men – Matthew Grimes of Aspen, Colorado, and Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, a UAE national – were linked to Barrack’s status as a senior adviser outside of the campaign. Trump to “advance the interests of and provide intelligence to the UAE while simultaneously failing to notify the Attorney General that their actions were made at the direction of senior UAE officials.”

Barrack was in direct and indirect contact with the UAE’s senior leadership, according to the charges, and he referred to Alshahhi as its “secret weapon” to advance the foreign policy agenda in America.

-CNN-Wire ™ and © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

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