Friend of Donald Trump Testifies in Own Defense in Foreign Lobbying Case
Tom Barrack, a friend of former President Donald Trump’s who was chair of his inaugural committee, took the witness stand in his own defense in New York’s Brooklyn federal court Monday to push back against allegations that he sought to cash in on his ties to Trump by acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates.
Barrack, a billionaire from California, testified that his private equity fund, Colony Capital, did big business with other Middle East countries besides the UAE, including Qatar and Kuwait.
Asked by his defense attorney whether he could have agreed to act as an agent of just one investor, Barrack said that would have been “impossible” because it would have soured other investors in his multibillion-dollar fund, giving them the perception that “if you’re acting for them, you’re not going to act for us.”
