Barrack: The foreign influence over Trump
Crooks and spies flocked to former President Trump “like moths to a corrupt flame,” said Casey Michel in NBCNews.com. That’s the clear message from the charges filed last week against billionaire businessman Tom Barrack, Trump’s close friend and chairman of his 2016 inaugural committee. Barrack’s “side hustle,” federal prosecutors say, was manipulating Trump on behalf of the United Arab Emirates, who invested more than $1.5 billion in Barrack’s private-equity firm. Barrack, 74, has been accused of adding language to Trump speeches praising the UAE, of asking Emirati officials for a “wish list” of U.S. policy changes, and of promoting this corrupt dictatorship in the U.S. without disclosing he worked for them. Barrack denies any wrongdoing. But the evidence against him is damning: He allegedly carried a dedicated phone for communicating with his Emirati associates, and in one text referred to the UAE as “the home team.”
Barrack posed a clear threat to national security, said Christina Wilkie in CNBC.com. The main espionage charge he faces is “used to prosecute spies” such as Russian agent Maria Butina. Barrack allegedly used his close relationship with Trump to penetrate the White House, and pass details from internal discussions to his UAE contact. Barrack accomplished “concrete goals for the UAE,” including pushing Trump to scuttle a 2017 summit with “American, Emirati, Saudi, and Qatari officials” that the UAE opposed. “Throughout his presidency,” said Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times, “Trump could scarcely have been more accommodating” to the Emirates and its ally, Saudi Arabia. Just as they hoped, he ended the Iran nuclear deal and blocked Congress’ attempt to pull U.S. military support from the war the Saudis and UAE conducted in Yemen. Trump also provided cover for “the Saudi crown prince after the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi.” And not incidentally, it was Barrack who recommended that Trump hire Paul Manafort as his campaign manager.
Americans have Trump scandal fatigue, said Dennis Aftergut in TheBulwark.com, but “think about it”: Barrack joins a half-dozen close Trump associates who have been indicted. Like Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who were convicted and pardoned by Trump, Barrack has been accused of secretly working for foreigners while advising Trump on foreign policy. “Only the best people,’’ right?