Trump ally Tom Barrack is responsible for acting as a foreign agent for the UAE

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An indictment of seven counts filed by the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, New York, alleges that Mr. Barrack, along with a former employee and Emirati businessman, acted at the direction of senior Emirati officials to influence Mr Trump’s political positions and influence public opinion in the UAE’s favour.

Mr. Barrack, 74, faces one count of acting as an unregistered agent for a foreign government and one count of conspiracy. He was also charged with obstruction of justice and four counts of making false statements during a June 2019 interview with federal law enforcement agents.

The indictment states that Mr. Barrack was a staunch supporter of Mr. Trump, serving as an unofficial advisor on the Middle East for the 2016 campaign, eventually seeking unsuccessfully to become the special envoy for the Middle East. He went on to chair Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee, which has been the subject of two federal investigations into its spending and into possible illegal foreign donations.

At a hearing in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon, a coroner ordered his provisional detention, pending a second hearing next week. Did not enter the call.

A spokesman for Mr. Barrack said: “Mr. Barak has voluntarily made himself available to investigators from the start. He is not guilty and will plead not guilty.”

Mr. Barrack resigned earlier this year from his position as CEO of Colony Capital Inc. , the investment company he founded in 1991. Last month, Colony rebranded itself as DigitalBridge.

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The indictment outlines efforts by the UAE to develop strong ties with the Trump campaign, and then the Trump administration at the same time as the Arab Gulf states were seeking to persuade Washington to support its agenda in the Middle East, including abandoning the Iran nuclear deal and suppressing the Muslim Brotherhood. Prosecutors say Mr. Barrack and two of his co-conspirators helped formulate a “wish list” of policy accomplishments desired by the UAE under the Trump administration.

The Emirati ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al-Otaiba, did not respond to a letter requesting comment.

The indictment includes detailed communications between Mr. Barrack and the other accused individuals while drafting speeches and policy platforms, discussing potential Trump administration appointments and conveying directives from Emirati officials.

According to the indictment, in the spring of 2016, Mr. Barrack, with the help of Emirati businessman Rashid Al-Malik, presented himself to senior Emirati officials as a primary conduit for Mr. Trump, with whom he has a decades-long relationship.

Mr. Malik was also charged in the indictment with acting as an agent for a foreign government and with conspiracy. Still at large: According to a court filing by prosecutors on Tuesday, Mr. Malik fled the United States three days after an April 2018 interview with law enforcement.

In an example cited by prosecutors, Mr. Barrack worked with Mr. Malik to draft a speech in May 2016 on energy policy for then-candidate Mr. Trump, in consultation with senior officials in the United Arab Emirates. The indictment stated that Mr. Malik sent Mr. Barak a text message praising an Emirati official by name, saying: “This is what I got from them.”

Prosecutors said the language was added to a draft that was circulated, but was eventually deleted from Mr Trump’s speech. However, another Emirati official told Mr. Barrack that Emirati officials were “happy with the results,” according to the indictment.

While working with Mr. Trump’s campaign and inauguration committee, Mr. Barrack has promoted the UAE and its interests in media appearances after receiving directions from Mr. Malik and Emirati officials, according to the indictment.

The indictment details the drafting of an opinion piece for Mr. Barrack in October 2016, during which Mr. Malik Matthew Grimes – the former Colony employee accused in the case – advised that Emirati officials did not like the term “dictatorships” and “did not want to be labeled as dictators either”. The indictment states that Mr. Grimes agreed to change the language to “regulations”.

Beginning in June 2016, the indictment alleged that Messrs. Malik, Barak and Grimes worked with Emirati officials to formulate a strategic proposal to increase the UAE’s influence in the United States. They are intertwined “with the country’s foreign policy and economic objectives,” according to the indictment.

Mr. Grimes is charged with acting as an unregistered agent, and conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent. At a hearing in California, a justice of the peace ordered Mr. Grimes to be held pending next week’s hearing, citing a risk of escape.

Mr. Barack’s relationship with Mr. Trump predates his presidency. He organized the sale of the Plaza Hotel in New York to Mr. Trump in 1988 and made several attempts to buy Trump Hotels and Resorts from Mr. Trump.

Mr. Barrack emerged as a key figure in Mr. Trump’s first presidential bid, raising more than $30 million for the campaign by June 2016.

After Mr. Trump won the White House, Mr. Barrack assumed control of the incoming president’s inaugural committee. Federal investigators targeted the panel over how it raised and spent more than $100 million — twice the amount that President Barack Obama raised for his 2009 inauguration.

That investigation, led by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, did not result in criminal charges against opening committee officials. People familiar with the matter said the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office is also investigating the inaugural committee about illegal foreign donations.

As president, Mr. Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he had considered nominating Mr. Barrack for several positions, including that of the US ambassador to Mexico. But this nomination never happened. Instead, Mr. Barrack played a behind-the-scenes role in the administration’s foreign policy.

Mr. Barrack’s ties to the Middle East have come under scrutiny before, along with blurring the lines between his business interests and White House influence.

Documents released by the House Oversight Committee in 2019 showed that Mr. Barrack had sought funding from the Saudi government in an effort to buy the US company Westinghouse to build the troubled nuclear reactors, even as he lobbied for the Trump administration’s support for the strategy. The commission’s report said Mr. Barrack sought a senior position in the White House to deal with Middle East policy even as he pushed for the Saudi nuclear plan.

Write to Rebecca Davis O’Brien at [email protected]

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