Last year, prosecutors had evidence to indict prominent Trump ally Tom Barrack

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A source familiar with the matter said prosecutors wanted to move forward with the case and thought they could get an indictment. The source said the investigation was mostly done long before prosecutors were discouraged from pushing politically sensitive matters ahead of elections.

But two sources told CNN that the US attorney general in Brooklyn at the time, Richard Donoghue, had expressed concerns about the case. It is not clear whether he postponed the case completely or whether prosecutors chose not to proceed when they knew the US attorney would not support it.

A spokesman for the Brooklyn Attorney General’s office declined to comment.

Donoghue did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Donoghue was later promoted by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to become principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice.

Barr has also been known within the department to have reservations, in general, about foreign pressure cases, which the Justice Department has struggled to pursue in the past.

The case, which was indicted on Tuesday, has become among the sensitive issues awaiting the arrival of Justice Department officials in the Biden administration this year.

Barak’s indictment dealt a blow in Trump’s circles due to his close association with “Donnie,” as Barak referred to the former president in last year’s testimony.

With a four-decade friendship with Trump and his position as an advisor during the 2016 campaign, the transition and the early days of the administration, Barack is well acquainted with the people around the former president, and the events that have already led to criminal charges being filed.

But Barack, the wealthy head of the real estate and private equity firm, has vowed to fight the accusations and can put up with a solid defense, making it unlikely he will turn out to be a cooperating witness against a larger target. A person familiar with Barack’s thinking said he does not intend to cooperate in any federal or state investigations related to Trump.

Instead, prosecutors appear to be treating Barack as their big fish, the subject of what current and former justice officials acknowledge is an aggressive case that forms part of a broader crackdown by the Justice Department over alleged violations of foreign pressure laws, which are rarely enforced. for decades.

He was indicted on Tuesday accused of exerting illegal foreign pressure on behalf of the United Arab Emirates over what federal prosecutors in Brooklyn described as an attempt to influence the foreign policy positions of both Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and the subsequent incoming administration. In an indictment of seven counts, Barak was charged with acting as an agent for the United Arab Emirates between April 2016 and April 2018. He was also charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal law enforcement officials.

Sure enough, Barak can always decide that he wants to avoid prosecution and provide evidence of possible wrongdoing by others. His deep ties to Trump’s world during the 2016 campaign made him a witness in the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and others.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan also examined his role as chair of the Trump inauguration committee, of which he chaired, including allegations that some people associated with the inauguration violated influence-selling laws, but that investigation has not been active since last year and no one has been. He was charged in the case, according to people familiar with the matter.

Because of his leadership of the inaugural committee, Barak was impeached in an ongoing civil lawsuit over the inauguration ceremonies by the capital’s attorney general.

The relative novelty of foreign pressure cases has given some senior justice officials, in the Trump administration, pause on the Barak issue, particularly after prosecutors have lost or run into problems in other similar cases.

Then Mark Lesko, who helped oversee Barrack’s case as the first US attorney general in Brooklyn, was picked earlier this year to take over as the acting deputy attorney general for the National Security Division at Justice House, the unit that helps advance the case. . People familiar with the matter said.

Postponing a politically sensitive issue within the Ministry of Justice until the arrival of a new administration is not without precedent. Last year, when federal prosecutors in Manhattan raised the prospect of seeking a search warrant for Rudy Giuliani’s communications, top justice officials decided not to make a final decision, in part because of an impending change of administration. Earlier this year, after a new leadership was installed in the Justice Department, federal agents executed search warrants at Giuliani’s apartment and office.

CNN’s Sonia Moggi and Emma Tucker contributed to this story.

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