July 21, 2021: Team Trump - Foreign Policy for Sale

 

7/21/21: This seemed like a long time coming (see: 2/4/19 and 7/29/19), but Tom Barrack, another Trump crony, joins the roster of arrestees who worked with the former president during his 2016 campaign, or palled around with “45” while he was in office.

 

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Barrack put U.S. foreign policy up for sale.

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In a numbskull nutshell, the billionaire businessman and longtime friend of Loser Don is accused of conducting foreign policy to benefit the United Arab Emirates (and to a lesser degree Saudi Arabia), rather than serving the interests of…um…this country right here. 

Barrack has been shady for years. That makes him a perfect walk-on in the story of Donald J. Trump. He has also been charged with obstructing justice, the go-to move of every alleged Trumpian crook in every story in the last five years. 

In one email, Barrack refers to the UAE as the “home team,” when in fact, the United States was the home team.

 

Here are just a few of the questionable connections and actors in this story. Start with Barrack. Throw in Matt Grimes, also indicted, who reported directly to Barrack at Colony Capital, the firm Barrack founded. What country has invested heavily with Colony? You will never guess. 

Okay. You guessed. The United Arab Emirates. 

Then toss a third indicted co-conspirator – by the name of Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, a.k.a. Rashid Al Malik and Rashid Al‑Malik, 43, a UAE businessman, into the mix. 

In the indictment against him, prosecutors allege that Barrack put U.S. foreign policy up for sale. Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia were intent on winning a battle for influence in the Persian Gulf, against rival Qatar. If they could gain access to, or influence with, Mr. Trump, they were ready to pay. 

As the Washington Post explains: 

“The defendant is charged with extremely serious offenses based on conduct that strikes at the very heart of our democracy [emphasis added],” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. Barrack, they said, “capitalized on his position of significant influence as an outside advisor to the Campaign and the Administration and as a national media figure with regularly televised interviews on major news networks to further the interests of the UAE as directed by senior UAE officials and their intermediaries.”

 

There are plenty of fishy details to this story – including Barrack’s work with the 2016 Trump campaign, as alluded to by prosecutors. Barrack was in charge of the Inaugural Committee. That committee is also under investigation, including for vastly overpaying to use Trump Hotel facilities in D.C. during festivities. That meant spending $300,000 to pay for a party for the Trump children. 

But wait, there’s more! Rick Gates worked on the Inaugural Committee, too. Even after he ran into trouble – for working with Paul Manafort – who was working with Russian agents during the campaign – Barrack kept Gates on his payroll, to the tune of $20,000 monthly. Gates ended up pleading guilty to several felonies, got sentenced to 45 months in jail, and agreed to cooperate with the Mueller investigation. Manafort refused to cooperate, got convicted on eight counts of fraud – then got convicted again in a case of witness tampering – then got charged in state courts with mortgage fraud – and then got a pardon, which he assuredly did not deserve.

 

Barrack also worked with Elliott Broidy to advance the interests of the UAE. Broidy’s reward was a deal worth, by one account, as much as $600 million, to organize intelligence work for the Emirates. Broidy then got indicted – for crimes similar to those with which Barrack is charged. Last October, Broidy plead guilty to one felony, again, basically for selling U.S. foreign policy, with so many sleazy side deals you’ll have to read the DOJ charging document yourself. 

Then, in December, he got a pardon too. 

But wait! Again! There’s still more!! Now we have to throw in the guy who got busted for sex-trafficking a minor. Both Barrack and Broidy had worked with George Nader, who was working for the UAE to facilitate their interests. He ended up ensnared in the Mueller investigation and got nailed – and not for the first time – for dabbling in child pornography and sex with minors. And, since we know Republicans hate homosexuals, we should note his victim was a 14-year-old boy. So, Mr. Nader is already spending the next ten years behind bars. 

The UAE has plenty of money - and wanted to "buy" U.S. support.

 

POSTSCRIPT: The Qataris knew they might have problems if the UAE and Saudi Arabia had their way. They decided to fight money with more money. A certain Trump aide and his family held a huge mortgage on a property in New York City, and couldn’t meet payments. They were deep underwater, in terms of the value of said property vs. what they owed. 

The aide and his family, including his wife, really hoped to get bailed out by somebody! A Chinese bank – that’s right, a Chinese bank – said, “We’d love to help.” A deal was agreed to worth $400 million. 

The free press sniffed out the story. The Chinese backed off. So the Trump aide, and his family still needed a bailout. Brookfield, a global property investment company, stepped up to offer a deal. Can you guess who deposits huge wads of cash in accounts at Brookfield? Which then lends out those huge wads to struggling multi-millionaires? 

Ha, ha. Qatar. 

And, lo, it came to pass. Brookfield saved Jared Kushner and his family, and, in a way, Ivanka Trump, too, and bailed them out on the huge loans they had on an office tower at 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York.

           

FUN FACT – INDICTMENTS: Here, we should provide a list of some of Team Trump players who have been jailed, pardoned, currently remain under indictment, or have been sued in court. 

Steve Bannon – indicted for fraud; but got a surprise pardon (his co-conspirators are still facing trial). 

Thomas Barrack – see above. 

Elliott Broidy – see above. 

Stephen Calk – convicted of bribery, in a scheme to pay Paul Manafort (below) in return for a cabinet seat in the Trump administration.

 

Michael Caputo – lied to Congress about helping set up a meeting with Roger Stone and at least one Russian during the 2016 campaign; avoided perjury charge by amending his testimony. 

Michael Cohen – sentenced to jail for violating campaign finance laws (not pardoned, because he cooperated with the Mueller investigation). 

Unindicted Co-Conspirator #1 – in the Cohen case, the unindicted individual turned out to be Donald J. Trump. 

Rick Gates – described above. 

Rudy Giuliani – disbarred in New York State for lying about the “stolen election” and sued in court by Dominion Voting Machines for defamation.

 

General Michael T. Flynn – plead guilty to working as a foreign agent; got a pardon. 

Igor Fruman – indicted, worked with Rudy, allegedly to root out corruption in Ukraine. Plead guilty on September 10, 2021. 

Paul Manafort – see above. 

George Nader – see above. (This blogger has a feeling Nader is cooperating with federal investigators.) 

George Papadopoulos – convicted of one felony for lying to the F.B.I. during the Mueller investigation; got a pardon. 

Lev Parnas – same as Fruman, above. 

(Blogger’s Note: Convicted; see 10/25/21.)

 

W. Samuel Patten – convicted of the same kind of crimes Barrack is charged with; cut a deal with prosecutors; got three years’ probation. 

Felix Sater (honorable mention) – he was a felon when he went to work for Trump, pushing for a Trump Tower deal in Moscow. 

Roger Stone – lied to Congress about contacts with Russians, got convicted on seven felony counts; got a pardon. 

Trump Foundation CFO Allen Weisselberg – currently under indictment for tax evasion. 

Imaad Zuberi – fined $1.75 million and sentenced to twelve years in prison, for obstruction of justice, selling influence to foreign countries; may be able to implicate Barrack and Broidy (although the latter has that pardon). 

Alexander van der Zwaan – convicted of lying during the Russian investigation.

 

Also facing civil damage suits for lying about rigged voting machines and the “stolen 2020 election:” 

Maria Bartiromo of Fox News. 

Lou Dobbs of Fox News. 

Fox News. 

Mike Lindell, the MyPillow and “Trump will be reinstated as president on the morning of August 13” guy. 

Newsmax (has already settled a damage case). 

Judge Jeanine Pirro of Fox News. (Removed from the suit in March 2022) 

Sidney Powell, the “Kraken Lady.” (She and other lawyers who filed a bogus “stolen election” case in Michigan have been ordered by a judge to pay more than $200,000 in legal fees to the state and city of Detroit – basically, for filing an idiotic case, with lousy evidence. 

L. Lin Wood – the State Bar of Georgia has begun an investigation into whether or not Mr. Wood should be disbarred. As part of that investigation, he is required to sit for a mental health examination. As you might expect, Lawyer Wood has filed a motion to have the Bar stopped from forcing him to undergo examination. 

A federal judge has thrown out his motion. 

Appeal to follow.