Trump ally Tom Barrack acquitted of foreign agent charges

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s inaugural committee chair, Tom Barrack, was acquitted on all counts Friday at a federal trial in which he was accused of using his personal access to the former Republican president to secretly promote the interests of the United Arab Emirates.

The jury deliberated three days before finding Barrack not guilty of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, obstruction of justice and making false statements. Barrack had vehemently denied the charges. Barrack, 75, is an old friend of Trump and is a California billionaire who chaired Trump’s inaugural committee. He was among of a long line of Trump associates to face various criminal charges.

In closing arguments on Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Harris told jurors that Barrack schemed to become the “eyes, ears and the voice” for the Emirates as part of a criminal conspiracy to manipulate Trump’s foreign policy. At the same time. he leveraged his back-channel connections to get the UAE to funnel tens of millions of dollars into an office building he was developing and into one of his investment funds, he added.

The prosecutor pointed to what he characterized as a steady steam of shady texts and other communications that showed that Barrack was under the direction and control of Rashid al Malik, a businessperson from the UAE who acted as a conduit to the rulers the oil-rich Persian Gulf state.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-donald-trump-united-arab-emirates-obstruction-of-justice-government-and-politics-7f1221713786251be83ac1827f60aa4d

[cactusfractal]

1. Another candidate for my favorite garden machine n/t

[FakeNoose]

2. This proves that Tom Barrack can afford the best lawyers

... and he pays them well. It has no bearing on Chump, or any charges that may be pending against him.

[SunSeeker]

3. Exactly what I was thinking. He had the money to get the best lawyers.

DOJ just had their regular attorneys on this, with limited resources.

[clementine613]

4. How much did he pay the jury to acquit?

n/t

[SunSeeker]

5. He poured his money into the best lawyers in the country to confuse the jury.

The charges are relatively simple, and the facts are pretty straightforward, he pushed the UAE's agenda to Trump in exchange for $374M in UAE investments in his business (same scam Jared pulled, but Jared got $2 Billion from the Saudis!) without registering as a foreign agent. 3 days/13 hours of deliberations sound like the jury had trouble making up their minds. The problem with these FARA cases is prosecutors must prove there was an "agreement" to represent a foreign government. Of course, such illegal agreements are rarely put in writing, so their existence must be proven with circumstantial evidence.

A good defense attorney can come up with all kinds of arguments that the exchange of money was just a coincidence. And the guy was so rich, his attorneys actually (and successfully) argued that $374M was not a significant enough amount of money to constitute a motivating factor for Barrack. Barrack's defense attorney Randall Jackson claimed that amount was "insignificant" -- "less than 1%" of the company's balance sheet.

But that $374 Million was 37.4% of Barrack's $1 Billion net worth, and that Barrack was not required to pay any of the $374M back or earn any amount in profits for the UAE with that investment. Nonetheless, the jury bought Randall Jackson's bullshit.

Big money buys the best lawyers and the best doctors. That's why the rich get away with shit and live longer than the rest of us.

[The Grand Illuminist]

6. The Bible has it....

that death passes you by is like 1000 scorpion stings.