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.
