NEW YORK — Tom Barrack testified that his support for longtime friend Donald Trump’s presidency proved “disastrous” for him and his business and suggested it was also the reason he’s on trial for allegedly acting as an agent of the United Arab Emirates.
The Colony Capital LLC founder spoke about Trump, for whom he campaigned in 2016 and served as inaugural committee chair, while testifying in his own defense in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. Barrack, 75, called Trump “bold, smart, instinctively brilliant and more resilient than anybody that I ever knew,” but also said he expected his friend to become more “moderate” in office.
“I thought he would transition, but he had a style I and others didn’t appreciate,” Barrack said under questioning by his own lawyer. He said Trump’s divisiveness wound up creating “headline risk” for Colony and resulted in a “death march” of investor exits by 2018.
“With the continuing drama this president found himself in, a lot of shareholders were upset that I was a friend of the president,” he said. His relationship with Trump was also why “I’m sitting with you today,” Barrack told the jurors.
His testimony was perhaps Barrack’s sharpest break to date with Trump. Defense lawyers have long fretted that the ties between the two men would hurt Barrack with the jury in Brooklyn, where Trump is deeply unpopular. The jurors on Monday listened with rapt attention as Barrack spoke about the former president. Prior to the trial, Barrack also rejected Trump’s claims of a stolen 2020 election.
Middle East Interest
Prosecutors claim Barrack used his inroads with the Trump campaign and administration to try to influence U.S. policy on behalf of the UAE, which poured $374 million in sovereign investment funds into Colony. Barrack faces as much as 20 years in prison if convicted on the foreign-agent charge, though he would likely get far less time than that.
The defense claims there was no connection between that money and any informal advice given to U.S. officials, which they say was based purely on Barrack’s long experience doing business in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world.
Barrack said Monday he hoped to steer the Trump administration’s Middle East policy in a more positive direction. “I had this amazingly good businessman who could not spell ‘Middle East,’ nor did he have any interest in the Middle East,” he said of Trump. “He was interested in Israel.”
As the “last chapter” of his career, Barrack said he wanted to help forge a new relationship between the U.S. and Middle East nations. “If I could be some tiny prod in weaving that web of tolerance between these countries and America, I would be done,” he said. “But none of that happened.”
Instead, Barrack said, Trump policies like his 2017 ban on travel to the U.S. from several majority-Muslim countries puzzled, then alienated Middle East leaders.
Before Barrack took the stand, Trump posted support for his friend on his Truth Social social media site. The former president said Barrack’s “dream was to see peace in the Middle East, a very good and noble thing.” He also accused prosecutors of targeting Barrack over his support for Trump.
In contrast to his criticisms of Trump, Barrack on Monday offered mild praise for President Joe Biden, who he said was “doing the best he can” to fight inflation.
Prosecutors have argued that Barrack began operating as an illegal agent in early May 2016, when he first met Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed, the UAE’s national security adviser and a prominent businessman.
Barrack denied that on the stand, saying Tahnoun never gave him any instructions or direction.
‘Gofer job’
Matthew Grimes, Barrack’s young assistant, is also on trial for allegedly acting as a UAE agent. Barrack became emotional earlier on Monday when describing how Grimes originally offered to work for Colony for no pay, taking on the “gofer job of the century.”
Similar to how he described Trump, Barrack said Grimes “had no clue about the Middle East,” but nonetheless followed him on his travels to the region.
“One of the worst feelings in my life is him sitting him in this courtroom today,” Barrack said of Grimes. “It’s ridiculous.”
Prosecutors objected to Barrack’s use of the word “ridiculous,” and the judge ordered it stricken from the record.
Barrack is set to continue his testimony on Tuesday.
The case is US v. Al Malik Alshahhi, 21-cr-00371, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
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(Bloomberg News reporter Zijia Song contributed to this article.)
