Jury weighs whether Trump ally Barrack was a foreign agent and lied about it

FILE PHOTO: Tom Barrack watches jury selection in a courtroom sketch in New York City, U.S. September 19, 2022. Tom Barrack, a private equity executive and onetime fundraiser for former President Donald Trump is charged with acting as a foreign agent without notifying the U.S. government as required. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg/

A U.S. jury began deliberations on Wednesday in the trial of Tom Barrack, the onetime private equity executive and fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, on charges that he acted as a foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates and lied to federal investigators.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn last year charged Barrack with using his influence with Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and later his administration to push the UAE's policy interests without notifying the U.S. attorney general as required by law that he was acting as an agent for the Middle Eastern country.