Judge says he won't dismiss charges against Trump fundraiser Tom Barrack
US District Judge Brian Cogan hinted in court on Monday that he was “thinning some things out” when it came to the trial of Donald Trump fundraiser Tom Barrack. Barrack is charged with lobbying as an unregistered foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates.
Cogan indicated he was considering dismissing some of the counts against Barrack and co-defendant Matthew Grimes but that didn't happen, said CNN.com. The judge did agree to restrict prosecutors from telling jurors they could find Grimes guilty of acting as an unregistered foreign agent if he only aided and abetted someone else who was acting as an unregistered foreign agent.
Cogan said Monday that some of the government theories were “right on the line between barely permissible interference and impermissible speculation.”
On Tuesday, prosecutors closed out the trial characterizing Barrack as a "duplicitous businessman who was privately offering Emirati officials his access to the Trump campaign and administration." They also said that as a result of his efforts he scored hundreds of millions of dollars in investments.
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“Mr. Barrack sold the UAE on his political connections,” said assistant US attorney Ryan Harris in the closing argument.
Last year, UAE businessman Rashid Al Malik was indicted after acting as a secret backchannel to the UAE for the US government.
“There are two Tom Barracks: a man who talks about weaving a web of tolerance and understanding and the man he really is when the cameras are off and no one is watching and the façade is stripped away. A man ultimately just leveraging his access with the Trump campaign and the Trump Administration to make money and wield power,” Harris said in the closing argument.
Barrack lawyer attacked the case as false.
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