Trump ally Tom Barrack was arraigned in a federal court in Brooklyn, NY, for illegal foreign lobbying charges on July 26, 2021. Barrack was allegedly acting as an agent of the United Arab Emirates and intended to influence the Trump administration’s foreign policy. pic.twitter.com/LUAdzXVltL
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 26, 2021
Barrack Pleads Not Guilty, Out Of Prison After Posting $250 Million Bond pic.twitter.com/36DxgTueOf
— Mo.bare. Michael. sta.ve. m.j r.b c.p .Jhn (@Maxamdbar88888) July 26, 2021
According to the indictment, Tom Barrack asked Emirati officials to create a “wish list” for the first 100 days, 6 months, year, and four years of the new Trump administration. Barrack pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn federal court. https://t.co/xMAQpQlM4W
— Gothamist (@Gothamist) July 26, 2021
I wrote up a summary of some new details in the 2019 complaint here, which I hope you'll read. https://t.co/LzZeqoRtYJ
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) July 26, 2021
But then again: Bonesaws!
Some speculating that Barrack will flee. Though possible (he's also a citizen of Lebanon & has ties with UAE), I do not believe he will do so bc he has another viable option to resolve this case with a likely sentence of probation: cooperation, not spending life as fugitive.
— Richard Signorelli (@richsignorelli) July 26, 2021
There are two justice systems in America: one for the rich and powerful, and one for everyone else. https://t.co/BK3RueBPt2
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) July 24, 2021
RaflW
TFG has some sort of bizarro power to get a wild level of loyalty from people who have to know he’d as soon shiv them as have dinner with them (or better yet, have the dinner, let them pay the check, and then screw em over).
Semi-relatedly, George P. Bush debased himself by being “the only Bush that Trump likes”, did some hideous swag to that effect in his ‘run’ for office, and yet indicted-but-at-large Ken Paxton just got the short-fingered thumb up from Don for the next outing to fleece the rubes.
CaseyL
@RaflW: TFG is offering, by example, the chance to be and do whatever they want. That so many are eager to play shows the extremity and depravity of their debasement.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ve been waiting for so long for so many people to flip on The Beast…
The Weisselberg case has gone awfully quiet in the last ten days or so
The Dangerman
250 MILLION? Damn, whose wheaties did he piss into? Sure, it’s sofa cushion money to the Emirates, but, still…
dr. bloor
I think Senator Warren has it here, even more so than her Tweet immediately implies. Anyone who thinks Barrack’s choices here are limited to “flip” or “go to jail” lacks imagination.
RSA
I’ll hope for the best. This will doubtless be spun by Republicans as a paperwork oversight, but I hope that the news media emphasize that (if I remember correctly) Barrack was trying to persuade the U.S. government to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.
Chetan Murthy
@dr. bloor: Indeed. When’s the last time a billionaire went to the pokey? Durst? A serial killer. And before him? Madoff? It’s pretty damn rare. They have armies of lawyers for a reason.
Villago Delenda Est
@dr. bloor:
The good Professor Senator Warren is strongly hinting that this sleaze will find a way to avoid jail, be it flipping or bribing.
dr. bloor
@The Dangerman: Alas, only a fraction of it involved handing over cash and other assets. Holding a bottomless pit of cash, dual citizenship and promises of welcome mats in nations without extradition treaties all tend to draw attention in a bail hearing.
scav
Might not exactly be loyalty, might be simple fear. Not so much of the Orangen Calf, but of his backers, both real and Maggoty.
NotMax
There’s plenty one can say about the UAE, but bonesaws is not one of them. That’s really uncalled for.
Roger Moore
@The Dangerman:
It has to be an amount of money that’s meaningful to him, or he’ll skip out. He has foreign friends and a foreign citizenship, so he’s a serious flight risk. They have to make sure his bail is enough that he can’t just abandon it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I have a cousin who lives in Huntington Beach. If we’ve ever actually met, we under ten. I don’t know her politics, but that side of the family is rather intensely Catholic.
NotMax
@RaflW
That’s George P. G. Bush, for the record.
Chetan Murthy
@dr. bloor: wait, I’d read $5m in cash, deeds to several houses, and other stuff, all of which added up to $250m ? Maybe I read wrong. But it sure seemed like he was handing over control of that much actual loot.
dr. bloor
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The idea of requiring people who want to give you money to present evidence proving the absence of an event as a testimony to acting in their own worst interests inorder to enter your establishment is the chef’s kiss of MAGAtry.
ronno2018
As someone with Lebanon ancestors — what in the hell is wrong with that dude? Millions of dollars and no effort to help the homeland? Jail him for a long time please.
Joey Maloney
Over/under that Barrack skips anyway, even with $250M hanging?
His Emirati friends might be willing to put him up and give him an allowance, rather than see some of their fuckery described in open court?
billcinsd
He has one viable option for staying out of jail … He’s leaving on a private jet plane, don’t know when he’ll be back again
sdhays
@Roger Moore: Presumably, they provided some evidence to the prosecutors that this $250 million pretty much covers his liquid assets, so the government would be able to seize his other assets before he converted them into cash after skipping bail.
dr. bloor
@Chetan Murthy:
The security is, I think, $5m in cash and another $20-25m in securities/home. He’s not forking over anything close to a quarter of a billion to get out.
Mike in NC
The words “Trump” and “indicted” go together better than “peaches” and “cream”.
Roger Moore
@dr. bloor:
They’ve admitted they can’t demand proof of non-vaccination, so they’re taking it on faith. That said, I doubt most vaccinated people would want to go to a restaurant that explicitly doesn’t want them there. I know I have no interest in going to a place that wants to fill up with unvaccinated people.
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: News story:
Huntington Beach restaurant urges unvaccinated diners in rebuff of COVID precautions
You will, I’m sure, be shocked to learn that this is essentially performative preening and the eatery in question was equally absurd on the mask question.
They seem nice…
Joey Maloney
And if it’s the same arrangement as your average Friday night bar brawler, that cash and securities is a fee to whoever wrote the bond. Barrack isn’t getting them back. But I don’t know that’s the case. Could be different rules for the rich guy.
dr. bloor
@dmsilev:
They may not be nice, but give them credit for knowing their
markscustomers…Adam L Silverman
He will not flip. If he does, he’s dead. Remember, the enforcement arm of Muhammed bin Zalman’s covert operations is Erik Prince’s mercenaries. Barrack would not be safe anywhere.
Joey Maloney
Uh, no.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Weisselberg will not flip either. If he cooperates he’s dead.
Adam L Silverman
@RSA: Yep, the Westinghouse deal.
West of the Rockies
@dmsilev:
I suspect they’ll get a bunch of Yelp reviews shortly: worst/best food ever; waitstaff we’re rude/offered to blow me, etc.
Chetan Murthy
@Joey Maloney: I’m not a law-talkin’-guy, so don’t know how to square the below with $250m. Must say, it does seem fishy.
courthousenews.com/indicted-trump-campaign-adviser-puts-up-250m-bond/
CaseyL
@Joey Maloney: As I understand it, the amount set for bail isn’t what the defendant needs to fork over. The defendant forks over maybe 10%, to a bail bonds company, with a promise to show up in court.
Failure to show up means the rest of the bail is due, and the bail bonds company gets to keep the 10% already laid out. Bail bonds companies exist to make money off this, since most of the defendants they deal with can’t afford to pay the rest of the bail that was set, and also tend not to show up for their trials.
If Barrack flees, the bail bond company can consider itself $25 million richer.
rikyrah
I have tears in my eyes, I ?????so hard at this.
twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1416133081329815554?s=19
NotMax
@dmsilev
Almost makes me want to visit Huntington Beach solely in order to not eat at that establishment.
(Parading up and down the sidewalk outside, brandishing an “Unclean! Unclean!” placard optional.)
Another Scott
@RaflW:
As predictable as the sunrise.
Cheers,
Scott.
Joey Maloney
@CaseyL: That’s not exactly how it works, or maybe I’m misreading. You pay the bondsman 10%. That’s his fee, and he keeps it no matter what. He then puts up the full amount of bail to the court. If the defendant shows up all the way to case disposition the bail is returned to the bondsman. If the defendant fails to show up, the court keeps the bail money. Hence the skip tracers and bounty hunters who go after them and bring them back. The bondsman pays a portion of the outstanding bond and is still ahead of the game.
Disclaimer: Everything I know about this I learned from reading Janet Evanovitch.
jackmac
“Best friend?” Trump has no friends, only co-conspirators.
scav
@dmsilev: Basilico’s no doubt showing the Health Department who’s boss too. Shittin’ in the Soup Spells Freedom!
dmsilev
@West of the Rockies: Yeah, that’s already well underway.
Adam L Silverman
@Chetan Murthy: He also had to surrender his passport, he has to wear a GPS ankle monitor, since he does not own his own jet, the court has ordered that he notify all the private jet charter companies he has used over the past three years that terms of his bail are that he can only fly common carrier between the southern and easter districts of New York, his own home in Colorado, and his family residences in California after notification of the court, and that his company’s corporate jet is off limits.
Whether that will make a difference, I don’t know. If the Emiratis want him out of the US all it will take is for him to get in an Emirati diplomatic vehicle and proceed to an Emirati diplomatic jet.
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: The beauty of this is that California has a very strong anti-SLAPP suit law. So the owners aren’t going to be able to go after the negative commenters with civil suits without bankrupting themselves.
Mike in NC
@dmsilev: What is it with Huntington Beach? I never made it there when stationed in southern California.
dr. bloor
@Adam L Silverman: He’d likely jump at that offer. What’s commonly known about how eager the UAE would be to throw that kind of political capital in his direction?
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Take this, Basilico’s!
Ohio Mom
Adam L. Silverman:
I guess nobody is going to flip then, even the people I am not sure who they are but might be next in line to be arraigned. The threat of getting knocked off is pretty good motivation for keeping quiet.
I’m moving on to hoping Trump’s bad health catches up to him.
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: Somehow, I doubt that will stop the restaurant from trying. Also too, I thought thisYelp review was just gratuitously cruel:
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
“The court also forbids any internet searches for D.B. Cooper as a condition of release.”
//
CaseyL
@Joey Maloney: I’m sure you’re right – I was a bit fuzzy on who was ultimately responsible for what. But the bail bondsman makes out no matter what happens.
Adam L Silverman
@dr. bloor: I don’t know because I don’t know what he knows about MBZ’s and MBS’s plans. Or about Jared’s.
zhena gogolia
@Ohio Mom:
I hate to say it, but in the last clip I saw of him he looked better. He’s lost weight.
He’s an evil demon who will never die. That’s just how I feel these days.
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Not sure how you’d prove that negative.
And also – IDIOTS!
debbie
@dmsilev:
Nope/10. Stealing this for work. ?
Adam L Silverman
@Ohio Mom: In Weisselberg’s case, because the Trump Org and subsidiaries have been money laundries for both the Italian and Russian/post Soviet mobs, if he flips he’s worrying about both of those coming after him.
In the case of Barrack, it’s Emirati security forces and/or Emirati funded mercenaries.
Ohio Mom
Zhena gogolia:
Losing weight can be a symptom of all sorts of miserable diseases. I wouldn’t give up hope yet.
bbleh
@Adam L Silverman: @dr. bloor: I can’t see what would be in it for the Emirates. He was of use, his time of use has passed, there are other fish to fry now. And multiple citizenship, whatever.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Adam L Silverman:
You sure seem to be certain of that. The guy’s a rich guy who could surely afford good private security
Adam L Silverman
@bbleh: It depends what he knows. If they decide he’s a loose end, then he’s got a problem.
bbleh
@Adam L Silverman: Ok, ratting out the Emiratis I might be willing to buy, but this one I’m not so sure. A mountain of sleazy accounting and tax fraud at a relatively small family-owned US R/E-management corporation? Who’s gonna care about that? And don’t tell me the Trump Org could actually put together some sort of “security” op (aka a hit); these are the people who lost money running a casino, and then did it three more times.
Ah, ok, per comment 54, the Russians. Yeah, a la Manafort. I wonder, though, whether there would be ways to keep that from becoming explicit. Interesting …
bbleh
@Adam L Silverman: But then per your earlier comment, there are cheaper and more deniable ways to tie it off.
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
“Get me Cyber Ninjas on line 1.”
//
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ohio Mom:
Ha! always look on the bright side of life /whistle whistle whistle/
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@NotMax:
Ha!
bbleh
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Ohio Mom: @zhena gogolia: Yeah I’m not convinced it’s healthy weight-loss. US Presidents aren’t just fed well, they’re doctored well, and that is by no means limited to treating ailments. Former ones … not nearly so much. Trump is very lucky regarding his health, but his lifestyle and diet are awful, and he’s morbidly obese. And now he’s stuck crashing wedding parties instead of, y’know, being president, headlining rallies, all that heady stuff. I’d give 8-1 that by 2024 campaign season he’ll be at least physically incapable of campaigning and possibly badly ill or gone to his reward.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@bbleh: the conspiracy theories that will fly when that fat old fast-food junkie buys the farm will be epic
(Obama did in the TV room at Mar-A-Loco with a one-liner)
Omnes Omnibus
@Joey Maloney:
This is basically correct.
Adam L Silverman
@bbleh: They’ve indicted Weisselberg on tax fraud, but he knows where every dollar that went through the Trump Org’s and its subsidiaries’ books went. That means he knows who was laundering what, when, and where too. That knowledge is what would put a target on him.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Question for you about the Barrack stuff. I know he’s not being charged for what we’d normally think of as white collar crime, but given who he is, does it make sense for his attorneys to try to turn the case into something white collar like or adjacent. That he was just a businessman trying to broker deals. And I’m asking because of how difficult it often is/seems to be to get convictions in white collar cases because the defendants are treated differently than defendants in non-white collar crimes.
Thanks!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
SFAW
No
Mary G
@Adam L Silverman: He was in charge of the inauguration. Could he please at least flip on Ivanka? Pretty please?
RaflW
@NotMax: Is it (I just see him listed as George Prescott Bush)? Or is this a joke I’m not getting?
Ruckus
@SFAW:
He might flip on the guy that was assisting him in being a middleman and paying him to cook the books (I’m assuming, seeing as how everything else about him is fucked up), whom he might just not be besties with. Especially if he can’t sneak out of the country…
He might also if he thinks this might be very beneficial to his friends in other countries. You know he’s not going to be getting any help from SFB, who seems to every day get a bit deeper into la la land and who seemingly owes a lot to a number of people who might not see him in the same light he sees himself.
The Lodger
@bbleh: That’s our reward, not his.
Chetan Murthy
@RaflW: In Mexico (from where his mom hails, nothing wrong with that!) the last name is mother’s last name, then father’s, right? So since his mother was ne’e Gallo, he’d be George Prescott Gallo Bush ? Perhaps that’s what NotMax meant?
Kent
Didn’t he also lobby illegally for Saudi Arabia?
Kent
Why would they do that? There is a new boss in town and it isn’t Trump. What would they gain by pissing off the President, DOJ, and State?
Steeplejack
@Joey Maloney:
How so not?
Kent
I expect the first person to flip on Trump and get away with it will open up the floodgates. Once the perception of immunity and impunity is gone it is gone for good.
Chetan Murthy
@Kent: I want justice as much as anybody else does, but …. the first person has already flipped: his name is Michael Cohen, and ….. it was like dropping a pebble in a pond. Nuthin’. I’m not optimistic.
burnspbesq
@bbleh:
He still might be elected.
Kay
That’s how you know they got arrested. You haven’t seen them for a while.
Bill Arnold
For those who follow arms control geekery, this is very funny (in a Doctor Stranglovian way):
(The actual story:
China Is Building A Second Nuclear Missile Silo Field (Matt Korda and Hans Kristensen, July 26, 2021)
Ksmiami
@NotMax: or ring a bell outside…”Send out your dead, send out your dead.”
Bill Arnold
@Adam L Silverman:
Guy (MBS/Z) thinks he’s untouchable. He is not.
James E Powell
I’m sure the Trump family has complete confidence that Barrack won’t talk.
Kent
He pled. But he didn’t testify against Trump in a trial against Trump. And in any event, he is walking around a free man and has a book contract. Making the point that Trump is full of hot air.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kent:
I heard him on Molly Jong-Fast’s podcast last week, and it sounded like he was still under house arrest.
Chris Johnson
If they are going to be traitors and criminals and then just get away because ‘oh, if they flip the bad guys will definitely just kill them’, then we might as well just kill them now.
Buy the ticket, take the fuckin’ ride. I don’t like this talk of ‘the guy is just too powerful to face justice in any sense’. Flip them and let the bad guys kill them if they’re in so deep. I have no sympathy at all.
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@billcinsd: leave steve miller out of this!
mrmoshpotato
@Kay: Is this Sean guy all there?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Totally OT, but moar Game of Thrones:
I actually did some reading about the ASOIAF series and I gotta be honest, I’ve got no interest in reading it:
I mean, “fat pink mast”? “The more she drank, the more she shat”? That’s right up there with the show’s “You want a good girl, but what you need is bad pussy” from the 5th season. Ugggh!
Apparently, GRRM is kind of a perverted creep too
Exhibit A
In a 2010 post for his “Not a Blog” on LiveJournal about the casting on the HBO show in, he talks about reviewing the tapes of 12 young actresses reading for the role of Shae. He then says, “Excuse me, I need to take a cold shower now.” His status “mood” is horny
?
Another thing. His female characters are often praised for being “strong”, but in reality many of them are subjected to gratuitous violence, rape, and miscarriage, and it’s portrayed that this trauma made them “stronger”. This kind of trauma never happens to male characters, and if it does (rape) it happens “off-screen”. The rape scenes are also written to be titillating. Daenerys Targaryen was only 13 years old IIRC when she was married off and raped by her husband. And people actually named their kids “Khalessi”! GRRM has tried to claim that this is all historically accurate, but that’s bullshit. When most of these assaults take place, there’s no war going on. Compared to what we know Medieval Europe was like, the amount of miscarriages, rapes, etc, just didn’t happen nearly as much as ASOIAF makes it seem. There were no cultures to my knowledge where rape was widely seen as this honorable thing, as in the Dothraki. Rape was always seen as a terrible, horrible thing. As bad as the middle ages were, they weren’t nearly as bad as Westeros. Plus, dragons and all that too.
GRRM also has a problem with the Malw Gaze as well. Female characters are also often described more vividly then men are, often talking about their breasts. Including Danys, who I remind you, is an underage girl.
It all just seems pretty suspect imo.
Finally, the guy also sold some old calendars and water damaged RPG books from his basement that originally retailed for $99.99 for like $199.99 on NaB with his autograph (I think). Basically, it was a digital garage sale!
Chetan Murthy
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I watched the first season of the series, but couldn’t keep going. B/c jesus, “soft porn much?” And yeah, the rape, too. But mostly, the soft porn. I mean, I’m a male, and every male with an internet connection ….[ok, I’ll stop there]. But jesus, I don’t want my -drama- to be suffused with soft porn.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Is the defense going to try to make it seem as though it wasn’t a big deal and try to make any issues of proof as murky as possible? Yes, I would certainly think so. The prosecution is going to try to sell one story. The defense is going to try to make that story look bad and sell a story of their own – one that exonerates or at least minimizes the guilt of their client. Both stories have to fit the evidence, but they will emphasize different things and try to get the jury to draw different conclusions. And of course the stories can be wildly different. Look at OJ. The prosecution told the story of a brutal double murder. The defense told the story that you can’t trust the LAPD.
Omnes Omnibus
@Chetan Murthy: Father’s name first.
Chetan Murthy
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh ha. Well, there goes that theory.
Kent
Speak for yourself!
Chetan Murthy
@Kent: I like to watch my dramas thru to the end, to, y’know, find out whodunit, who gets snuffed, etc. Not, uh, y’know, stop after the first ten minutes.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Chetan Murthy:
One of the few good things the show did compared to the books, was aging up the characters, like Dany. Imagine if she had been 13 like in the book… ??
NotMax
@RaflW
George Prescott Garnica Bush. Garnica is his mother’s maiden name, which was scrubbed from the ‘net as being one of his middle names pretty much the day he announced he was running for office in Texas a while back.
Give me a sec to root around – ah, here it is, a comment from 2013 which includes a link pointing to the archived ‘before’ Wikipedia page, which if you’re so inclined you can compare at your leisure with the ‘after’ page that comes up on Google now (and which even goes so far as to incorrectly list the non-G version as being his birth name).
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks.
Adam L Silverman
@Bill Arnold: They’re only touchable if we decide they’re worth touching.
Also: EWWW!
Cermet
@Roger Moore: The issue is, did he put up the 250 million entirely or did a bond agency (in which case he only put up 25 million; chump change to a billionaire.)
Cermet
@Omnes Omnibus: Isn’t the charge being someone who is acting for a foreign country? As such, this is far beyond white collar crime but related to infringing on US security – a rather serious issue?
SFAW
@Ruckus:
Carlos Ghosn is amused by your hypothetical.
Barry
@Chetan Murthy:
“Indeed. When’s the last time a billionaire went to the pokey? Durst? A serial killer. And before him? Madoff? It’s pretty damn rare. They have armies of lawyers for a reason.”
I don’t believe that Madoff was a billionaire. He was just playing with a cash flow which made people believe that he was rich.
And in the end he ripped off wealthy people, which IMHO was his biggest crime in the eyes of the criminal justice system.
Barry
@dr. bloor: “Holding a bottomless pit of cash, dual citizenship and promises of welcome mats in nations without extradition treaties all tend to draw attention in a bail hearing.”
He has to be an extreme flight risk.
Barry
@bbleh: “I can’t see what would be in it for the Emirates. He was of use, his time of use has passed, there are other fish to fry now. And multiple citizenship, whatever.”
Deterrence, same as for the Mob: “You talk, we kill you (and y our family). You are better off taking *any* prison sentence than flipping.”
Barry
(attribution messed up due to crap in the system)
“Both stories have to fit the evidence,”
If there’s one thing that the past 5 years have shown, it’s that that no long applies.
The defense might just deny the evidence, and claimed that it was fake.
J R in WV
@RaflW:
George Prescott Bush is trying to drop the Hispanic portion of his given name, for RWNJ reasons.
Uncle Cosmo
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Well, USAFool, you’re a bit more than 300 pages ahead of me: Some years back I found a pristine trade-paper edition of the first volume for free at The Book Thing and took it home in delicious anticipation. About that far in I realized I didn’t give, as Frank Perdue might have put it, a frying flock about any of the characters, living or dead, and returned it for someone else to waste their time over.