The New York Times International - 30.07.2019

.. 6 | T UESDAY, JULY 30, 2019 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION

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As Donald J. Trump was preparing to deliver an address on energy policy in May 2016, Paul Manafort, his campaign chairman, had a question about the speech’s contents for Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a top campaign fund-raiser and close friend of Mr. Trump. “Are you running this by our friends?” Mr. Manafort asked in a previously un- disclosed email to Mr. Barrack, whose real estate and investment firm does ex- tensive business in the Middle East. Mr. Barrack was, in fact, coordinating the language in a draft of the speech with Persian Gulf contacts including Ra- shid al-Malik, an Emirati businessman who is close to the rulers of the United Arab Emirates. The exchanges about Mr. Trump’s energy speech are among a series of inter- actions that have come under scrutiny by federal prosecutors looking at foreign influence over his campaign, his transition and the early stages of his administration, according to documents and interviews with people familiar with the case. Investigators have looked in particular at whether Mr. Barrack or others vio- lated the law requiring people who try to influence American policy or opinion at the direction of foreign governments or entities to disclose their activities to the Justice Department, people familiar with the case said. The inquiry had proceeded far enough last month that Mr. Barrack, who played an influential role in the campaign and acts as an outside adviser to the White House, was interviewed, at his request, by prosecutors in the public integrity unit of a United States attorney’s office in New York. Mr. Barrack’s spokesman, Owen Blicksilver, said that in expectation of this article, Mr. Barrack’s lawyer had again contacted the prosecutors’ office and “confirmed they have no further questions for Mr. Barrack.” Mr. Barrack has not been accused of wrongdoing, and his aides said he never worked on behalf of foreign states or entities. Asked about the status of the inquiry, a representative for the United States attorney’s office declined to com- ment. The relationship of Mr. Barrack, Mr. Manafort and representatives of the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia, including Mr. al-Malik, has been of interest to the federal authorities for at least nine months. The effort to influence Mr. Trump’s energy speech in 2016 was largely unsuc- cessful. The special counsel’s two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has ended and federal prosecutors in another New York office have signaled that it is un- likely they will file additional charges in a separate hush money investigation that ensnared members of Mr. Trump’s inner circle. But as the scrutiny of Mr. Barrack in- dicates, prosecutors continue to pursue questions about foreign influence. Among other lines of inquiry, they have sought to determine whether Mr. Bar- rack and others tried to sway the Trump

campaign or the new administration on behalf of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, two closely aligned countries with huge stakes in United States policy. Between Mr. Trump’s nomination and the end of June, Colony Capital, Mr. Bar- rack’s real estate investment and private equity firm, received about $1.5 billion from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates through investments or other transactions like asset sales, Mr. Barrack’s aides said. That included $ million in investment from Saudi and Emirati sovereign wealth funds, out of $7 billion that Colony raised in investment worldwide.

An executive familiar with the transactions provided The New York Times with somewhat different figures last year. Investigators have also questioned witnesses about Mr. Barrack’s involve- ment with a proposal from an American group that could give Saudi Arabia access to nuclear power technology. And they have asked about another eco- nomic development plan for the Arab world, written by Mr. Barrack and circu- lated among Mr. Trump’s advisers. Aides to Mr. Barrack, who is of Leba- nese descent and speaks Arabic, said he had always acted as an independent in- termediary between Persian Gulf leaders and the Trump campaign and administration, never on behalf of any foreign official or entity. “The ideas he was giving voice to were his ideas,” said

Tommy Davis, Mr. Barrack’s former chief of staff, who continues to work for him. “These are ideas that he has been advocating for decades.” He said Mr. Barrack had no incentive to lobby on behalf of any particular country or countries in the Persian Gulf because his business interests and policy concerns span the entire region and countries at odds with one another. Nor is there any evidence, Mr. Bar- rack’s aides said, that either Mr. Barrack or his Los Angeles-based company prof- ited from his efforts. Mr. Trump’s inauguration in January 2017 was a high point for Mr. Barrack: The inaugural committee he led set records for the amount of money raised and spent to celebrate an inauguration. But critics claimed the inaugural be- came a hub for peddling access to foreign officials and business leaders, or people acting on their behalf. A United States attorney’s office in New York opened an investigation into possible vi- olations of campaign finance law, focus- ing partly on whether foreigners, who were barred from contributing to the $107 million inaugural fund, illegally funneled donations through Americans. Questions about whether Mr. Barrack complied with the Foreign Agents Reg- istration Act, commonly known as FARA, arose during the Russia inquiry led by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and were referred to a New York office. Three of the six former Trump aides who were charged by the special counsel acknowledged violating the foreign lobbying statute in their guilty pleas: Mr. Manafort; Rick Gates, who served as deputy campaign chairman for Mr. Trump in 2016; and Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser.

But while the Justice Department has been trying for several years to step up criminal enforcement of FARA require- ments, such cases are typically difficult to prove. Whether someone is acting at the behest of a foreign official “is a very hard thing to investigate or to decide,” Adam S. Hickey, the deputy assistant attorney general in charge of the national security division, said in a recent inter- view. Central to the inquiry into Mr. Bar- rack are his dealings with Mr. al-Malik, who is well connected in the court of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates widely known by his initials, M.B.Z. Mr. al-Malik is close to the prince’s brother, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed, who oversees the United Arab Emirates’ in- telligence services. Sheikh Hamdan is considered to be Mr. al-Malik’s patron

and a major financier of his business activities. When Mr. Trump was elected, Mr. al- Malik received a coveted invitation to the inaugural’s most exclusive event — the chairman’s dinner, hosted by Mr. Barrack. In early 2018, Mr. al-Malik gave an in- terview and provided documents to federal prosecutors who questioned whether he had been acting as an unreg- istered foreign agent in the United States, according to two people familiar with the matter. After he was interviewed, Mr. al-Malik left for the United Arab Emirates and has not returned to the United States. William F. Coffield, a lawyer for Mr. al- Malik, said that he “voluntarily cooper- ated with the special council’s office,” adding, “They accepted his cooperation and they certainly aren’t going after him.”

Investigators have documented a string of instances in which Mr. Barrack appears to have tried, with feedback from Mr. al-Malik and others, to shape the message of the Trump campaign or new administration in ways that were more friendly to Middle East interests. Although he was not always success- ful, Mr. Barrack had substantial sway within the campaign when it was over- seen by Mr. Manafort, a longtime friend, and Mr. Manafort’s deputy, Mr. Gates. In one email to the U.A.E.’s ambassa- dor in Washington, Mr. Barrack pro- moted Mr. Manafort as someone who was “totally programmed” on the alli- ance between the Saudis and Emiratis. Mr. Manafort, in turn, was willing to describe Mr. Barrack to foreign officials as someone who could speak for the campaign on all subjects. The Times learned of some of Mr. Bar- rack’s electronic correspondence from people critical of Emirati foreign policy and from people familiar with his work with the Trump campaign. In early May 2016, Mr. Barrack asked Mr. al-Malik and other Persian Gulf contacts to propose language for a draft of an energy speech that Mr. Trump was to deliver in Bismarck, N.D., that month. Mr. Barrack’s draft of the speech cited a new generation of leaders in the Gulf region, naming both the Emirati crown prince and his ally, Mohammed bin Salman, then deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi prince, often referred to by his initials, M.B.S., has now consolidated his control of the kingdom. Mr. Barrack’s aides said he tried to influence Mr. Trump’s speech because he cares deeply about United States rela- tions with the Persian Gulf region and was worried that Mr. Trump’s inflamma- tory campaign messaging would dam- age those ties. Among other provocative statements, Mr. Trump had vowed that, if elected, he would bar Muslims from entering the United States. When Mr. Trump and a campaign speechwriter rejected Mr. Barrack’s draft, Mr. Manafort wrote to Mr. Bar- rack, “Send me an insert that works for our friends and I will fight for it.” In the end, to Mr. Barrack’s disap- pointment, Mr. Trump made only a pass- ing reference to the need to work with “gulf allies” on “a positive energy relationship as part of our antiterrorism strategy.” A few days later, Mr. Manafort emailed Mr. Barrack that “on the platform issue there is another chance to make our gulf friends happy.” He was re- ferring to language in the Republican Party platform to be approved at the convention where Mr. Trump would for- mally become the nominee. In late June, Mr. Manafort alerted Mr. Barrack that Mr. Trump had softened his stance on a Muslim ban. Mr. Barrack quickly forwarded the email to Yousef al-Otaiba, the Emirates’ powerful am- bassador in Washington. Then in July, Mr. Barrack informed Mr. Otaiba that the Trump team had re- moved language from the proposed Re- publican platform that would have called for the disclosure of redacted pages related to Saudi Arabia in a report on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. “Really confidential but important,” he wrote, enclosing campaign emails on the subject. Two days later, Congress released the passages, which detailed contacts between Saudi officials and some of the hi- jackers.

Scrutiny of Trump ally focuses on lobbying

WASHINGTON

Inquiry aims to discover if fund-raiser was swayed by foreign governments

BY SHARON LAFRANIERE, MAGGIE HABERMAN, WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM, BEN PROTESS AND DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Sharon LaFraniere and Maggie Ha- berman reported from Washington, William K. Rashbaum and Ben Protess from New York, and David D. Kirk- patrick from London.

Above, Donald Trump’s swearing-in. Below, Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a friend of President Trump, has a real estate and investment firm that does a lot of business in the Middle East.

CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES

HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS

“The ideas he was giving voice to were his ideas. These are ideas that he has been advocating for decades.”

On a recent trip home to Wyoming, Senator John Barrasso received a message from the White House during his layover in Denver: The president is free. Call when you can. For most people, such a summons would be extraordinary. For congressional Republicans like Mr. Barrasso, it is becoming old hat. “He will see you on a morning show or a Sunday show and call and want to talk about it,” Mr. Barrasso, the No. 3 Senate Republican, said about Presi- dent Trump. On that particular occa- sion, they conversed about a nomination issue, Mr. Barrasso recalled. “Then we can go off that topic and talk about golf and about Tiger Woods.” Twitter is not the only means that Mr. Trump uses to communicate di- rectly with his target audiences. He is also an eager caller to Capitol Hill, much more so than either of his two most recent predecessors. The constant contact is one reason that the president continues to defy predictions and retain strong Republican support, despite his often divisive public com- ments and unpredictable policy positions. Fun fact: Top politicians are flat- tered by attention from the president, which can only enhance an already strong sense of self-importance. “He calls everybody all the time,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republi- can of Oklahoma. Mr. Cole said he probably had more

contact with Mr. Trump in 18 months than with Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush over their com- bined 16 years. “I have never seen a president who reaches out as consis- tently as this guy. It is just his style.” Given his management approach — reserving ample television time with a phone close at hand — it is not surpris- ing that Mr. Trump is known for spon- taneously dialing up his supporters, and even the occasional Democrat. He might also have more incentive to call because of his need to hold Republicans in line after his often incendiary remarks, as he did this month during a House effort to repri- mand Mr. Trump for his demand that four Democratic congresswomen “go back” to where they came from. Only four Republicans voted with the Demo- crats to condemn the president. Veteran Republicans say Mr. Trump employs the phone and the power of personality in a way that reminds them of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton, both of whom were known for their success at influencing skittish members of Congress. Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama, in contrast, were considered distant figures by many of those on Capitol Hill; they might interact only at holiday receptions. Mr. Obama in particular eschewed personal politicking in pursuit of his policy goals. “Why don’t youget a drink with Mitch McConnell,” he joked about the Kentucky Republican and Senate majority leader at a White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in a bit about complaints that he needed to build stronger relationships on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Trump’s frequent and sponta- neous phone calls do carry certain risks. The president can cross up White House aides who are lobbying lawmakers and send mixed messages. But the rewards outweigh the risks, one top White House official said. “The reality is, you could sit here and complain, or you can figure out how to maximize it,” said Marc Short, the former legislative affairs director for the Trump administration who is now chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. Mr. Short said legislative operatives in other administrations would have

killed to have a president so eager to personally work the Hill. The idea that a president can turn around a lawmaker through schmooz- ing and personal appeal is sometimes dismissed as a thing of the past. But lawmakers say the phone calls, and the other little benefits that Mr. Trump can bestow, build a personal connection that the president might need when the going gets rough. “The phone calls and meetings matter,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who condemned Mr. Trump during the 2016 primary campaign but is now one of

his closest congressional allies and a regular golf partner. “When the president’s on the phone, you want your friends to hear it, because it gets the heart racing,” Mr. Graham said. “Or, the president would like to see you tomorrow in the Oval Office. I told him early on, the power of that is pretty amazing. But you have to use it wisely.” It is not just the phone calls, which feature the president doing most of the talking. Lawmakers say Mr. Trump understands the value of political niceties, such as an unexpected com- pliment or an invitation to a White House dinner, followed by a tour of the Lincoln bedroom. “He’s very comfortable doing that,” said Senator James Lankford, Republi- can of Oklahoma, who still vividly remembers a simple missive from Mr. Trump about a statement the senator made. “He wrote a note on the actual article itself — he had torn it out of the newspaper — and wrote to me saying, ‘This is a really good quote,’ signed it, and it just showed up in my office at some point in our interoffice mail.” Lawmakers say the president’s frequent calls offer some members of Congress a new status symbol, giving them the ability to act as beleaguered recipients of constant messages from a chief executive who can’t make a move without their wisdom. The phone connection also lets them share any dis- agreements with the president in private. “He is going to talk about his positions, and I’m going to talk about my positions, but I think it is important to have that level of communication,” said

Senator Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican who talks frequently on the phone with the president. Mr. McConnell regularly recom- mends that Republicans who have a problem with Mr. Trump just get on the phone and speak to him. “The thing about this president — Mitch reminds us of it all the time — this president takes phone calls from senators, Republicans and Democrats,” said Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota, who is a close ally of the president. “This is what makes him different from the previous president. He takes phone calls and talks to members individually.” The ready availability can also have its drawbacks. Mr. Cramer recalls being on Air Force One with the president last year when Mr. Trump returned a call he believed was from Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, who had recently been acquitted of corruption charges. The president congratulated him and sug- gested that Mr. Menendez had been treated unfairly. It turned out to be a prank call from a radio host, but the embarrassing episode did not diminish the president’s enthusiasm for working the phones. “You always know it is the president of the United States on the other end of the line,” said Mr. Cole, the Oklahoma congressman, explaining one of the reasons that he is always ready to take the call. “It is somebody who has 95 percent approval from my primary voters.”

The president is calling. That works for lawmakers.

ON WASHINGTON WASHINGTON

BY CARL HULSE

Catie Edmondson and Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.

“He will see you on a morning show or a Sunday show and call and want to talk about it,” Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, said of President Trump.

ANNA MONEYMAKER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

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The New York Times International - 30.07.2019

Scrutiny of Trump ally focuses on lobbying

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