Federal prosecutors said a Trump ally attempted to covertly influence foreign policy in favor of the United Arab Emirates, but that claim was refuted by former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday.
Mnuchin said that amid a crisis in regional foreign policy, Thomas Barrack, a wealthy friend of former President Donald Trump, spoke up for one of the UAE’s main rivals. Mnuchin said that while Qatar was being blockaded by its neighbors—whom the Trump administration backed—Barrack stood with Qatar.
Mnuchin, who served as treasury secretary for the whole of Trump’s administration, is the second official to testify in Barrack’s trial.
Mnuchin detailed a discussion he had with Barrack in June 2017 in his office at the Treasury building in Washington, D.C., the day after the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and other countries placed an embargo on Qatar. Although the government supported the boycott, Barrack Obama had backed Qatar and referred to it as a “huge diversion,” according to Mnuchin.
According to Mnuchin, “He thinks the president made a mistake.” His stance was unmistakably pro-Qatar.
Mnuchin said that while serving as Treasury Secretary, he had conversations about foreign policy matters with businessmen, including Barrack. Barrack “has a lot of expertise in that area,” according to Mnuchin.
Mnuchin said that he never gave Barrack access to any sensitive material while he was treasury secretary and that he never asked him to provide anything to the UAE.
Rex Tillerson, a former secretary of state, was asked to testify by the prosecution on October 3. Tillerson, who held the position from February 2017 to March 2018, said he was unaware of Barrack’s communications with Emirati authorities and never solicited Barrack’s input on foreign policy decisions.
Tillerson was also asked about a Camp David conference that Trump believed would end the UAE and other Gulf monarchy’ economic embargo on Qatar. Mnuchin refused to elaborate on conversations about Camp David, claiming executive privilege.
Prosecutors questioned Mnuchin about his private equity firm, Liberty Strategic Capital, during cross-examination. Mnuchin stated that one of his company’s investors is a sovereign wealth fund from the UAE.
Sovereign wealth funds are “among of the major investors,” according to Mnuchin, in private equity businesses. Former treasury secretaries Jack Lew and Henry Paulson are now employed in the private equity industry.
Mnuchin worked for Goldman Sachs before entering the Trump administration, and he later founded an investment company. Later, he oversaw the Trump campaign’s finances. According to Mnuchin, Barrack attended his 2017 wedding and the two had been friends for a long time.
Barrack is charged with conspiring with a representative of the Emirati government to sabotage the conference, which never happened.
Additionally, according to the prosecution, Barrack used his contact with Trump to push a “wish list” of UAE foreign policy ideas.
On Wednesday, the government finished its case. The focus of the month-long trial has been on texts and emails that were sent between Barrack and his co-defendants, Rashid Al Malik, an Emirati citizen who was residing in California at the time, and Matthew Grimes, a former employee. Barrack, Grimes, and Al Malik discussed Barrack’s support for Trump and American foreign policy in the Gulf in communications that were played for the jury. Messages from which it seems Al Malik passed along information from Barrack and Grimes to top UAE government officials have been shown by the prosecution.
Al Malik, Barrack, and Grimes were accused in July 2021. Barrack has filed not guilty pleas to the accusations of operating as an unregistered foreign agent, obstructing justice, and providing false information to the FBI about his transactions. At the time, Barrack served as executive chairman of the investment company Colony Capital. The business is currently called DigitalBridge. In response to accusations of working as an unregistered foreign agent, Grimes submitted a not guilty plea. Police have not found Al Malik, who is also accused of working as an unregistered foreign agent.
According to Barrack and Grimes’ attorneys, their conversations with UAE officials were about business. They claim that Trump and the US State Department were aware of Barrack’s connections to foreign companies.