On witness stand, Trump ally denies foreign influence charge

NEW YORK (AP) — A California billionaire known as an ally of Donald Trump used his testimony at his federal trial on Monday to question Trump's leadership on foreign policy, saying the former president was clueless about the dynamics in the Middle East.

The defendant, Tom Barrack, is accused of using his “unique access” as a longtime friend of Trump to provide confidential information about the Trump administration to the United Arab Emirates to advance the UAE’s foreign policy and business interests. Prosecutors say that while UAE officials were consorting with Barrack, they were rewarding him by pouring millions of dollars into his business ventures.

Barrack, the onetime chair of Trump’s inaugural committee, told a New York City jury that he considered Trump to be “bold” and “smart” businessman, and had backed his candidacy as a political outsider who “could be a good thing for the system.” However, he testified that he later grew disillusioned because of Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric and other divisive positions he called “disastrous.”

He testified that some of his clients in his private equity firm “were upset I was friends with the president.” Trump, he added, was perceived as someone who “could not spell ‘Middle East.’ … It was a nightmare.”

Barrack said he made it a mission to sell Trump on encouraging the UAE and Saudi Arabia to align with Israel as a way to bring stability to the oil-rich region. He also worked behind the scenes to try to get the former president to drop the idea of a Muslim travel ban.

He said he took the position, "This is America. How can you ban a whole religion?”

Barrack also testified that it would have been “impossible” for him to act as a foreign agent for one Middle East investor in his firm because other investors would object to...