Jury finds Trump ally Tom Barrack not guilty of foreign agent charges, lying to FBI

Tom Barrack, who is a long-time ally of former President Donald Trump and also acted as head of his inauguration, has been found not guilty by a Brooklyn federal jury Friday on charges of acting unlawfully as a foreign agent.  

Barrack was also found not guilty of obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI about his contacts in UAE. Barrack’s assistant, Matthew Grimes was also found not guilty on all charges.

Closing arguments were made on Tuesday, where Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Harris claimed that Barrack schemed to become the “eyes, ears and the voice” for the Emirates as part of a masterplan to manipulate Trump’s foreign policy.

Harris argued that Barrack leveraged his government connections to have the UAE funnel tens of millions of dollars into an office building he was developing, and also into an investment fund he held.

Defense attorney Randall Jackson told the jury that at no point did Barrack attempt to hide his relationships with Al Malik, someone he conducted business meeting with in the Middle East.

Jackson added that “makes no sense” that his client would try to infiltrate the Trump campaign on the behalf of the UAE at a time when Trump’s chances of winning the presidency were considered speculative at best.

Federal prosecutors accused Barrack of exploiting his relationship with Trump to provide the UAE with inside information about the goings on in the White House and about Trump’s 2016 Presidential run.

The trial went on for 6 weeks. After the deliberating for three days, the jury passed along their not guilty verdict.