New York
CNN
—
After hinting that some charges in the foreign lobbying trial of Donald Trump’s longtime ally Tom Barack may be dropped, a federal judge on Tuesday allowed the charges, and the case was It is possible that the case will soon move to a jury.
U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan said in court on Monday that he was “reducing a few things” and not going to jury several counts against Barack and co-defendant and former assistant Matthew Grimes. said it was considering
Ultimately, however, Corgan did not dismiss any counts. A jury is scheduled to begin deliberations on Wednesday.
Instead, Corgan said prosecutors could convict Grimes of acting as an unregistered foreign agent if the jury felt there was only enough evidence that Grimes helped and abetted someone else. Kogan said some of the government’s theories “strike the line between barely acceptable interference and unacceptable speculation.”
In Tuesday’s closing arguments, prosecutors portrayed Barrack as a double-faced businessman personally providing Emirati officials with access to the Trump campaign and administration. said he received hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in his company.
“Mr. Barack sold out the UAE on his political connections,” said Assistant US Attorney Ryan Harris.
Last year, Emirati businessman Barack, Grimes, and Rashid Al-Malik were indicted and accused of operating as a secret backdoor for the United Arab Emirates. Prosecutors allege that Al-Malik was secretly operating in the United States as his UAE government agent. Almalik fled the United States shortly after he was interviewed by the FBI in 2018 and remains at large.
“There are two Tom Barracks: the man who talks about weaving a web of tolerance and understanding, and the real man he is when the cameras are off and no one is looking and the façade is removed.” , just used the relationship between the Trump campaign and the Trump administration to make money and exercise power,” Harris said.
Barack’s attorneys responded by calling the foreign lobbying lawsuit “ridiculous.”
Defense attorney Randall Jackson likened his clients to Japanese Americans held in internment camps by the US government during World War II for fear of loyalty to the United States.
“It was done under the theory that these people may be involved in something like espionage, or they could be under the direction and control of the Japanese government,” Jackson said. Told.
Jackson said Barack made no attempt to hide his relationship with al-Malik, even disclosing meetings with him on official government forms when he was being considered for a government position. said there was.
“He’s Instagram official with him,” Jackson said. “He’s not trying to hide his relationship.”
“There is no evidence to support the theory they came up with,” Jackson said.
Barack, who has run for office and testified for nearly a week, denies providing emirate officials access to US influencers and told Trump not to support the 2017 blockade during his presidency. Qatar, an opinion that would not have been in the best interests of the UAE at the time.
“I have done nothing wrong,” he testified.
Harris claimed that UAE-controlled sovereign wealth funds poured $374 million into Colony Capital, Barack’s firm, and that Grimes also worked there, earning between $400,000 and $600,000 a year.
“And in return, the UAE has untied the defendants’ purse strings,” Harris said. “These sovereigns he hasn’t received a cent from the wealth fund in eight years.”
Both Barrack and Grimes face one count of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government and one count of conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. Barack also faces one count of obstruction of justice, and four counts of false statements.
Grimes’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, concluded by saying that the prosecution had shown no evidence that Grimes had agreed to work as a foreign agent with UAE officials.
“He cannot be an agent for negligence or accidental reasons. He must do so knowingly and intentionally,” Lowell said.
He repeated allegations in Grimes’ defense that the then-22-year-old Colony Capital assistant-turned-vice president worked at the barracks, often doing menial jobs.
“Foreign agents don’t pack, buy cupcakes, arrange massages, or give stuffed animals to the boss’s kids,” Lowell said.
