Even before Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, a foreign government turned to one of his close associates in an effort to gain influence -- and this time it wasn’t Russia.
Instead, according to an indictment of Trump’s former inaugural chairman Tom Barrack unveiled on Tuesday, the nation that sought such clout was the United Arab Emirates, a staunch U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf region. Prosecutors say the UAE relied on Barrack, a longtime Trump associate and real estate developer, to build a backchannel to senior U.S. officials.
Barrack and two of his associates were charged with failing to register as foreign agents for work they allegedly did to promote the United Arab Emirates’ foreign policy interests and increase its political sway in the U.S.
Barrack’s conduct “strikes at the very heart of our democracy,” prosecutors said, when he “capitalized” on his position as an outside adviser to the Trump campaign, at the direction of UAE senior officials and their intermediaries. Through Barrack, the Emirates developed a backchannel to the Trump campaign and then the administration, according to the indictment.
Matthew Herrington, Barrack’s lawyer, said his client is innocent.
“Tom Barrack made himself voluntarily available to investigators from the outset,” Herrington said in a statement. “He is not guilty and will be pleading not guilty.”
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