Tom Barrack: Jury acquits top Trump aide of acting as foreign agent

A California businessman who once advised President Donald Trump has been acquitted of unlawfully acting as an agent of the United Arab Emirates.

Tom Barrack, 75, was arrested last year on nine criminal counts, including conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements to the FBI.

At a six-week trial in federal court in New York, the private equity executive argued he "never did anything wrong".

Mr Barrack was a senior adviser to the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.

The Los Angeles-based investor is a close personal friend of Mr Trump.

He chaired - and raised $107m (£95m) for - the Republican's inaugural celebration following the 2016 election.

After deliberating for three days, jurors acquitted him on Friday of all counts.

As the verdict was read out, Mr Barrack bowed his head then hugged his lawyers, as family members wiped away tears in court.

Federal prosecutors had alleged he acted as the "eyes, ears and the voice" for UAE government interests by using his connections to influence officials and media appearances.

Showing jurors hundreds of text messages and other communications with Emiratis, they argued he "was going to be their man on the inside".

But Mr Barrack, an Arabic speaker of Lebanese descent, maintained he was "his own man" and had never agreed to act under UAE "direction of control".

Taking the stand in his own defence, he argued he wanted better US relations with Gulf countries, and interacted with Emirati officials and their intermediaries as part of his role running Colony Capital, the real estate investment trust he founded.

His lawyers also pushed back against the government's interpretation of his correspondences, claiming they had been taken "completely out of context, to play gotcha".

Friday's verdict is considered a setback to the US Department of Justice in its efforts to root out foreign influence in US politics, but the agency told the BBC it will not appeal.

"We respect the jury's decision in this matter," a spokesperson said. "Today's verdict will not diminish the Department's commitment in future cases to enforcing fairly and impartially laws designed to deter covert foreign influence on US policy."